


Are We Alive?

by Darling_No



Series: Death Is Not Final [2]
Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Bad Jokes, Bad Puns, Badass, Bisexual Okumura Rin, Blood, But kind of not really, Eventual Relationships, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Family, Flower Language, Flowers, Gay, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied Sexual Content, Lesbian Character, M/M, Memes, Minor Injuries, Multi, Obscure pop culture references that no one but me ever gets, Original Character(s), Orphans, Sarcasm, Serious, Shura x OC bc I noticed their compatibility and I can't unsee it now, Survival, Swearing, Swords, Twins, Undead, Weapons, Zombies, song inspiration
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:20:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 29,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22120192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darling_No/pseuds/Darling_No
Summary: Rin and his crew are in America after a long journey manning a battleship. Sachi has already turned two. America does have a much larger population of zombies, but it also has more room to run and escape them as well. Tensions ran high on the way and now they're in unknown land. Will they all survive or will they fall apart and fall prey to the Corpses and people that wander the Land of the Free?*Sequel to Are We Dead Now?
Relationships: Kamiki Izumo/Okumura Rin, Kamiki Izumo/Suguro "Bon" Ryuuji, Kirigakure Shura/OC, Miwa Konekomaru/Shima Renzou, Okumura Rin/Suguro "Bon" Ryuuji
Series: Death Is Not Final [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971748
Comments: 3
Kudos: 38
Collections: Death Is Not Final





	1. One: Iris

**Author's Note:**

> HEY Y'ALL! I'm back!!! I hope you're ready for even more sarcasm, inappropriate jokes, and survival skills. I have OCs in this one, but they're super likeable. I based them off people I know as a base and worked from there personality and look- wise. I hope you love this story just as much or even more than it's predecessor! Enjoy chapter one of Are We Alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Iris–faith, hope, wisdom and valor
> 
> HEY GUYS! I'm back!!! I hope you're ready for even more sarcasm, inappropriate jokes, and survival skills. I have OCs in this one, but they're super likeable. I based them off people I know as a base and worked from there personality and look- wise. I hope you love this story just as much or even more than it's predecessor! Enjoy chapter one of Are We Alive?

Trees. Lots and lots of trees.

Soft green grass. 

Flowers swaying in the gentle breeze, bees buzzing around to pollinate the flowers. Sun shining brightly. A perfect blue sky with small, fluffy white clouds floating peacefully along.

Rin decided he loved this place. 

It was serene. He could lay here forever. He wished he could just sink into the Earth and become part of the beauty of this Springtime.

A shadow covered him and he opened his eyes. "Ryuji. Did you need something?" He murmured. Said teen smiled. "We got a shower working. The water cycles through a purification tank of some sort. And the old owners left all their stuff behind. Thought I'd tell you before they used up all the shampoo." He answered.

Rin grinned. His hair was brown with filth and disgustingly greasy. He could probably be rocking dreds by now with how nasty it was. His skin had a protective layer of dirt on it as well, along with some dried blood for extra safety. His clothes were near shredded and probably smelled disgusting. They were nose-blind to Mary smells at this point though–  
Sachi's diapers made sure of that. The only surviving article of both Rin's police uniform and military uniforms were the heavy duty combat boots. 

Meanwhile, Kinzou's cowboy boots and hat were still in pretty good condition. Maybe he was just good at preserving things. Rin couldn't even preserve his own clothes and the past year had proven he couldn't preserve certain relationships very well either.

"Rin?" His boyfriend's voice prompted, breaking him out of the bitter thoughts swirling in his mind. He smiled at the boy and got up.

If Yukio wanted to go back to being a selfish brat, then that was his problem. Rin was the designated Leader(not by choice), so Yukio could listen to him or leave.

§~•~§~•~§

The girls were all chilling in the living room of the house when Rin walked in. It was a pretty small house. One story, two bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen/dining room, a small living room with a nasty fishtank that could've given the filthy tank from Nemo a run for it's money, and a whole ton of free space filled with grass and a decently steep hill farther back for a backyard. There was a swing hung from a sturdy tree branch with strong, thick ropes. Old bloodstains stained a corner of the wooden seat. In the driveway, a pink and silver scooter lay on it's side on the gravel next to a truck that had been crashed into the power line pole by the road. 

The front yard faced the road and had two huge pine trees in front. It was a nice little home and he wondered what had happened to the family that used to live there. In the pictures, there was a tall, buff man, a short, thick woman, and a young girl. Sometimes there were two girls in the pictures, sometimes there was only one, sometimes the girl were in pictures together by themselves.

The two girls looked like they could've been sisters, possibly twins. One was tall and slim, with pale skin, ice-blue eyes, lots of freckles, and curly chocolate-brown hair. Her smile was always wide and her eyes squinted in happiness at the camera in almost every picture. 

The second young girl had darker blue eyes, pale skin, few freckles, and wavy dark brown hair. Her smile was almost as wide as the first girl's. In a few of the pictures, which showed the family at amusement parks with brightly colored roller coasters in the background, the girls held hands. There were baby pictures of one, but not the other. At one point, the girls both got glasses between the years the photos were taken.

While Rin waited for Paku to finish showering, he made up a story about the family to amuse himself. He'd done this the few times he'd stayed in abandoned family homes back in Japan too. He'd make up the life stories and the personalities of the people in the pictures. 

In a couple of the more recent photos, the girls looked to be around thirteen or fourteen. The more freckled one was just barely taller than the second now. She was wearing a black sleeveless shirt with a Micky Mouse silhouette filled in by the American flag, grey skinny jeans with a chain, and black combat boots that had spikes on the heels of them. Her hair was cut shorter, like a boy's. Her red-framed glasses were nowhere to be seen, but that smirk made it look like she might've stomped them to pieces before the shoot.

The second girl wore a bright tie-dye Band-t-Shirt with the words Panic! at the Disco in a messy font across the front, short pastel pink shorts, and pastel yellow converse. Her glasses were still on her face. She was thicker than the slim girl next to her and not even an inch shorter. 

Rin snickered. It looked like Tall Girl had gone the Dark Punk route while Short Girl was more Pop Pastel. What a pair they made in that picture. Tall Girl was in a Superman pose with her fists on her hips as she stood tall with the same wide grin as the older pictures. She wore a school spirit shirt, black jeans, and converse. Her hair was dyed bright blue and still cut short.

Short Girl stood in a chill pose, leaning on the pole between them while throwing up a peace sign with the same grin from her childhood self as well. She wore all pastels again, and the contrast was still amusing. The girls looked to be in their later teen's in that one.

It was nice to look at. It was happy. He wondered how old the girls were now. If they were alive. The father's corpse had been struggling in the driver's seat of the crashed truck before they dispatched him.

The mother was nowhere to be seen. Rin wondered if the girls had even been home when everything went down. He wondered if either had significant others. If they'd done any sports. He decided that the shorter one would be a soccer player. The tall one would be basketball player. Or maybe the tall one did Track and Field. Maybe they were both in Drama and screamed at people from the stage.

"I'm out!" Paku's soft voice called. "It took a while for it to get warm, so I took mine mostly cold! Enjoy while it lasts, whoever gets the shower next!" She giggled as Renzou and Kinzou started fighting for it. 

Rin slipped right past them and gave a victorious laugh as he shut the door.

"Damn." He heard Renzou sigh, defeated. Kinzou was laughing at his younger brother. "What are you laughing for, you didn't win either!" Renzou shrieked indugnantly. "Yeah, but at least you didn't get it!" Rin chuckled at their antics as he stripped his nasty clothes off. He looked at them on the floor and cringed. He'd been living in those? The clothes by themselves were health violations!

He didn't even bother to feel the temperature of the water and just stepped in. He moaned in delight as the water poured over his tense muscles. He didn't even remember what exactly relaxing felt like at this point. He was always on guard, no matter how capable his group was.

There was only women's shampoo and conditioner left to use, most likely because there had been three girls and one man in the house before the Apocalypse and Konekomeru, Bon, and Shura already smelled suspiciously like men's shampoo. Rin decided on the pair of bottles that had honey displayed on the label. It really did smell good, too.

He let the filth wash out of his hair before lathering it in shampoo. The water wasn't by any means hot, but it was warm enough for him not to shiver during his shower. Rin was lucky he couldn't grow facial hair–he was sure he'd look like a caveman by now. And a beard looked good on someone like Ryuji, but definitely not Rin.

He finished washing up and saw someone(probably Torako) had left a couple stacks of folded clothes for them to go through and pick what they wanted to wear. All of the Father's stuff was too big on Rin's lean frame, so he looked through the girls' clothes instead. Her clothes fit him a lot better than the Man's.

He came out of the bathroom in a grey tank top with an open back, black jeans(most likely from Tall Girl), and his military boots. Shiemi took a shower next and Rin went to find the kids. They were with Izumo in the backyard.

The red-eyed girl was sporting Tall Girl's clothes as well–a grey croptop, black jeans, and her spiked combat boots. She had a black newsboy hat on her head too. She looked pretty in the dark colors against the bright spring atmosphere around her. Actually, she looked gothic with her red eyes and dark purple hair. All she needed was dark makeup and black nail polish.

The girl pushed Tsukumo on the old swing and held Sachi's hand as she balanced unsteadily on the large and bumpy tree roots. The baby looked up and grinned wide. She had nearly all her teeth and she'd grown a little taller. She had less babyfat, probably from walking around the Wisconsin when she finally learned how. Half the time she'd get lost and someone had to go find her. They simply followed her singing, which echoed around the halls loudly. Sachi loved to sing and Rin used that to teach her to sing so they could find her when she was lost in the ship. Rin wasn't really a singer before the Apocalypse, but he taught the girl all the songs he knew since she insisted after hearing Shiemi sing to her sometimes to get her to sleep.

"Daddy!" She'd started to calling Rin Daddy and called Ryuji Papa. It was a lot less confusing for who she wanted to call, at least. She stumbled off the root and over to him. He picked her up and her little arms went around his neck. "Did you take a shower with Izumo and Tsuku?" He asked. She nodded furiously. "Yeah! I got new dress from Gramma! Issit pretty?" She leaned back to show him the bright green dress. It looked to be made from a t-shirt. It had been cut and re-sewn into a smaller shirt that was like a dress on the baby. She had some shoes they'd scavenged from a store on their way to wherever this place was. He wondered what state they were in. It didn't look like the pictures of New York he'd seen, so that wasn't it. The beaches they'd seen when they docked didn't look like Florida either. 

He decided he liked this state. It was peaceful. There was never just silence. Even in the beginning of Spring, it rained often and if it didn't, there were always animals around to make noise. They'd encountered a Zombie Cat and had almost lost Shima before Rin sliced it in half. His blade just barely cut Shima's face as well, but he said the scar going diagonally across the bridge of his nose made him look cool, so he didn't mind. 

"Daddy, your hair smells good! Like Izu's!" Sachi told him. "Used the Honey one, huh?" Said purple-haired girl guessed with a smirk. Rin blushed. "All the Mens was gone and it never smells that great anyways...." He grumbled.

"Your hair looks nice." The girl commented, pushing her little sister on the swing to go a little higher. "Thank you. It feels a lot better too. I was about ready to chop it all off!" Rin huffed. "I've never seen you with short hair. Just really long hair, and then regular long hair." She noted. "You look cute with the length yours is now." Rin told her honestly. Her cheeks burned. "I had to cut it before since it was long like yours. I've never had short hair before." She said. "Believe it or not, my hair was always short before all this." Rin told her.

"No way!" She turned back to him in surprise. "Yep. Never went past my ears. When the End of the World happened, I was too busy surviving to really pay it any attention. As long as I put it up to keep it out of the way, I didn't care." Rin admitted. 

"The bottom was black when I met you. Why?" Izumo wondered. Sachi played with Rin's now shoulder length hair as he explained. "When I was little, the other kids used to make fun of it. My dad decided to dye it so they would leave me alone. They didn't, the kids just found other ways to hurt me. But I kept dying it even after he refused to do it anymore." 

"Why? If it didn't matter to them, then what was the point?" Izumo asked, frowning. She'd had purple hair and everyone had left her alone about it. They'd only stayed away from her because she was going to be a shrine maiden serving a so-called demon.

"I hated it. My....my real father was not a good person. He was a brutal Russian man. Dad called him a war dog. He came back different after his first tour. My mother still stayed with him because she felt bad even though she was in love with Dad. She died shortly after giving birth. We came too early and she wasn't contracting right. But Dad told me that I looked kinda like him. So I just....always hated it." Rin answered.

"That's stupid!" Izumo cried. Rin looked incredulously at her, insulted. "I look just like my mother, who spent more time with men than her own kids! Our dad left when we were babies! She once blew up on us because a guy told her he refused to marry her all because she had kids! She couldn't stand us!" Izumo shrieked. "I didn't let that hold me down or hurt me! I just did my best to live normally! You can't let stuff like that get to you!" She'd grabbed Rin's arms and glared at him.

Her gaze softened. "I know you didn't have a great childhood either. But people like us have nothing to start us on our way to a decent life but ourselves." She sighed. 

"And this? This whole thing?" She gestured to the sky and the trees and the house. "This helps people like us. We do better in this world than the one before. We can make it in this world and do something worthwhile with ourselves. This is good." She finished. 

Tsukumo and Sachi were watching with interest as the two stared at each other. Then Tsukumo giggled. "Nee-chan blew up again!" Izumo's face went red in embarrassment and she backed away from the taller teen. 

"Why don't you go into the girls' room and look for toys, hm?" Rin suggested to the two girls. They nodded and ran inside. Rin smiled after them. He turned back to Izumo. "Do you think there are survivors here too?" She wondered quietly. Rin sat on the swing and swung slowly.

"I don't know. I wanna hope someone in America survived, but I don't know if it's good for us or not." He listened to the bees buzzing in the flower patch next to him. He picked some from a different patch and started weaving them together. Torako had taught him how to weave and he'd developed a habit of messing with anything that might be in his hands when he was thinking.

"I get it. I'm hoping there are good people left here, but that's usually not the case. If we're going off of movies and TV shows, that is." Izumo shrugged. She gave him one of her rare smiles and he grinned back. 

"Let's hope this isn't like the movies then." He said.

They went back inside to scavenge the kitchen for dinner.


	2. Two: Buttercup

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buttercup–Cheerfulness, ingratitude, childishness
> 
> Edit: I just reworded a few lines, nothing major. Enjoy!

"Just because you've secured yourself a place in this group doesn't mean you have to revert back to how you were before all this happened!" Rin yelled. 

"Well maybe if you'd trust me more, I wouldn't be!" Yukio yelled back.

"You know how I feel about you around the kids! I said stay away for a reason, not just to be an asshole, as you seem to believe for some reason!" Rin snapped. 

"What, I can't even play with the kids?! I'm not a monster, Rin!" 

"That's not it! You may be immune to it, but I don't know if it can spread from you! You've heard about sicknesses like that where someone is immune, but they're a carrier! It's the same for you around Torako! Sicknesses have incubation times and can live I side if healthy host bodies! They can take out whole populations, Yuki!" Rin was reaching the end of his rope with his brother. Yukio wanted to be with his niece, but Rin was forever worried the young ones were susceptible to the Pink Flu.

"None of you have gotten it!" Yukio pointed out. "That's true." Kinzou agreed. Rin turned his glare on the man and he put his hands up in surrender and backed away from the brothers.

"No, we haven't. But I don't know about the younger and older people. I'm paranoid and there's nothing you can about it until one or the other is proven right. Please, just stay away from them until I say." Rin quieted down. He hadn't yelled at Yukio in a long time. Like, back-when-the Apocalypse-was-still-a-

new-thing long time.

Yukio opened his mouth to protest. "Listen." Rin demanded. The taller teen shut his mouth, surprisingly. "I'm not doing this to keep you from your niece or anything like that. I can't trust anything that we don't have enough information on. If you're contagious somehow and it passes to the kids or Torako, I'll never forgive myself and you won't either."

Rin didn't wait to see if Yukio was going to argue further. He left the room to go deal with the crowd of dead their shouting had attracted.

§~•~§~•~§

There was something therapeutic about slicing mostly solid bodies to pieces. It was a morbid tho but, but those were becoming less and less rare for Rin the longer he lived in this world and lead this group. His Katana blade sliced cleanly through the bodies and cut them to pieces. It was even more therapeutic when he'd gotten good enough to look like an actual samurai while doing it.

Ryuji, never one to miss out on the fun, came out and smashed the dead with a baseball bat. A big, chrome baseball bat. Rin wondered where he'd gotten it, but didn't deny the company. Kinzou joined them with a broomstick that he'd removed the bristles from and attached a knife to one end. He'd carved out an alcove in the broom handle at some place called Home Depot, found a kitchen knife, and used really strong glue to keep it in place. The blonde was nothing if not handy.

They got rid of the crowd pretty easily, but Rin ran into the forest across the street and sliced more corpses into chunks. 

"Rin? I can talk to him." Kinzou offered, hastily catching up to him. Rin stopped running and sighed. "He was like this before, too. I don't think there's a point in trying." He said honestly. "Nonsense. Sometimes, people need someone else to help them change for the better. I can be that person. It's not always family that brings them home, you know?" Kinzou waved it off. Rin and Ryuji considered the fact. 

"Alright. You babysit him from now on. I refuse to deal with his shit and I trust you. If you fuck up," Rin's bloody blade was at the man's throat in a second. "You'll regret it. Even if he's an asshole, that's still my little brother." Kinzou could've sworn Rin's eyes glowed a brighter blue in the shaded forest. He nodded quickly. "Of course." He agreed. Rin gave a bright smile. "Great! Ryuji and I are going on a run to see if there's anything worth picking up in this town. Keep him away from the kids." Rin told him, hooking his arm in his boyfriend's elbow. The glint in the teen's eye told Kinzou they weren't just looking for things to pick up while they were out.

He gave them a knowing grin and nodded, walking back to the house.

"Have fun, boys~!" He called behind him.

§~•~§~•~§

"Man, this place is nice!" Rin sighed satisfied as he flopped back down on the matress. They'd found a furniture store, which they'd taken advantage of with no trouble at all.

Ryuji hummed. He raised their intertwined fingers and kissed Rin's knuckles. Rin smiled and rolled over to be tucked into his boyfriend's chest. 

After a while, Ryuji spoke. "As great as it would be to sleep here, we really need to get back. Izumo's cooking skills only extend so far in the Apocalypse." He told his boyfriend. Rin sighed heavily. "You'd think it would feel nice to be needed so much." The smaller teen grumbled. Ryuji laughed, shoulders shaking. "Yeah, I know. I'm pretty sure my arms will fall off if they need me to lift anything else within the next month." He groaned. "Ah, the things we suffer through for these people." Rin sighed dramatically. Ryuji hummed in agreement and pulled both of them up.

"I like those clothes on you." Ryuji commented. Rin smirked. "Don't look so bad yourself, Babe." Rin threw back as they got dressed. As they grabbed their weapons, Ryuji pulled him in for one more deep kiss before they left the store. Rin sighed happily. He would never get sick of this.

Even if they slept on the floor every night so the girls could have the beds and couches, he didn't mind as long as he was wrapped in Ryuji's arms.

Maybe the Apocalypse was good like Izumo said.

§~•~§~•~§

"Daddy?" Sachi called. "Yes, sweetie?" He answered. "Who dey?" She was looking at the pictures on the living room wall.

"That's the family that lived here before us." He told her. "Gone now?" Her eyes looked sad and Rin frowned, realizing she was talking about death. "I don't know, sweetie. It looks like the girls got away." He answered honestly. "I hope dey out dhere." She sighed, gazing at the pictures with a weird expression on her face.

"I hope they're surviving just like us." Rin agreed. He picked her up to put her to bed next to Tsukumo in the girls room. "Wait, Daddy!" She protested. "What?" She squirmed in his hold, turning around. She reached out to the picture frames. "You want the pictures?" Rin wondered, confused. Sachi nodded. Weird request, but okay. He took one of the family all together and smiling at the camera when the girls hit their teen years off the wall. "This one?" He offered. Sachi nodded again and as Rin told her and Tsukumo the story of Sleeping Beauty(Disney version, of course), she fell asleep holding onto the photo tightly.

Rin sighed and went to lay down with Ryuji on the living room floor. 

"She's finally asleep?" The teen guessed. "Yeah. She's attached to those pictures. Should I worry about that?" Rin wondered. "No. This house looks like it's seen some good years. Those pictures look like something you would never see in this world. They're....nice to look at, I guess. I don't know. But if she wants the pictures, then she can have them. It'll give her something to hold onto." Ryuji tried to explain.

Rin hummed in understanding and Ryuji tucked him against his chest, kissing his forehead. "Get some sleep." He murmured. The carpet was old and practically pressed flat and slightly ratty and the throw pillows from the couch weren't very puffy and soft anymore, but Rin still fell asleep easily because he knew his family was safe and inside a decent shelter for the night.


	3. Three: Mixed Zinnia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mixed Zinnia–Thinking(or in memory) of an absent friend.

Sachi liked the girls' dolls. There was a dollhouse almost the same shade of pink as the walls of the room. There was one bed, a full size, in the room and the walls were painted a light pink with white butterflies painted on them in a few places. Old band posters on the walls. A dresser with a TV above it. A large toy box took up one corner of the room. There was a doll house with plenty of dolls for Sachi and Tsukumo to play with.

There was doll clothes, doll brushes and at some point, Tsukumo had found safety scissors and chopped off one doll's hair. The doll had purple hair, for whatever reason and the hair was now decently cut like Izumo's, if a little choppy. Sachi had found markers and colored the doll's blue eyes red.

It took Rin until they made Ryuji out of a male doll to realize that they were making their group out of the dolls. Rin's heart ached. The dolls actually looked like their people. The hair cuts were a bit choppy, but mostly accurate and the eyes were colored the right colors. The clothes were all cut up too. These kids were fashion experts, Jesus.

"Ugh!" Sachi threw her hands in the air, a habit she'd gotten from Rin when he was frustrated and done. He laughed quietly. "What's wrong, sweetie?" He asked. "Non o them ha white hair, Daddy!" She complained. Rin's heart may have exploded.

"Oh God, what did I do to deserve you?" He gasped. "We can bleach it. That's the closest we'll get. We'll do it tomorrow. For now, why don't you just cut the hair and do the eyes, hmm?" He suggested. She nodded, still annoyed, and carried on.

"Are those....is that....are they making _us?_ " Izumo blanched. "Yeah. Yeah they are." Rin answered. The two stood there, feeling like proud parents.

A bit later, after the girls took a break for lunch and played outside a bit, they came back to the dolls.

Rin didn't pay much attention until he once again noticed something strange. "Who're you making?" He wondered. "The girls in the picture." Tsukumo said. "Oh." Rin watched quietly. Was this an unhealthy attachment or just interest in the life of a family they'd never known?

"No, tha one ha darker eyes." Sachi told Tsukumo. The girl colored a slightly darker blue onto the doll she was working on. "Dot ah hard to make!" Sachi huffed.

Rin went over and helped her with making tiny brown dots on the doll's body. "She got mark righ dere." Sachi pointed to the arm. Rin looked at the photo for reference and sure enough, she did.

"Why are there no glasses?" Tsukumo groaned. Rin snickered. "Ryuji, come make the kids some glasses for their dolls!" He called. He handed the teen some paperclips and the boy sighed. They found pliers and bent the wires into doll-sized glasses. One pair was colored black and one silver.

"There! What deir names?" Sachi wondered. "I don't know, honey. You wanna make some up?" Ryuji crouched next to the girls on the floor. Sachi thought before shaking her head. "No. I like dem as 'Girls'." She decided.

"Me too." Tsukumo agreed. Rin, Ryuji, and Izumo all watched them, smiling. Kids were a blessing.

§~•~§~•~§

Sachi and Tsukumo took all their modified dolls with them in a kids' backpack that was most likely owned by one of the previous owners.

There were actually a few old backpacks in decent shape to carry supplies, so they'd gathered what they could around town and moved to find a different place to stay.

They found a huge apartment complex. It was eerily silent besides the Shima brothers messing around until Kinzou shoved Shima into a car, setting off the alarm. Then, the dead were everywhere. At first, there weren't that many and were fought off. But more and more came to the sound of the alarm. Rin growled and kept dispatching the dead around him. They weren't close enough to any of the buildings and he didn't know if any were safe anyways.

"Kinzou, I'm gonna brain you with Izumo's shovel after this!" He growled. The blonde cringed.

They formed a Kill Circle and put the kids in the middle of it. "Sachi, Tsukumo–heads down, eyes shut." Izumo told them. The little girls huddled together and covered their ears as they clenched their eyes shut.

Rin glanced at the buildings, trying to find some way out of this. He wasn't alone anymore. He couldn't just slip through the bodies and under grabbing limbs. He couldn't just push his way through with his sword and his axe like before. He couldn't be reckless.

He glanced around more, trying to pay attention to the zombies and trying to see what utilities they had around them.

Finally, he saw something of a plan forming.

There was a building to his left. There was a giant pine tree behind it with branches that were low enough to reach. The tree was sturdy and taller than the building and could be climbed to the top so someone could get on to the roof of the building.

But he still needed a distraction to keep the corpses focused on something else. The Kill Circle was getting smaller and smaller as they were pushed back by the dead.

Rin heard the car alarm still blaring over the shouting of his group and groaning of the dead on his ears. If that car had enough battery power to blare like that, hopefully it still had gas and a working stereo. "Izumo!" He called. She was right next to him, fighting off the corpses viciously with a shovel. He grinned. She had more balls than Shima, he had to admit.

Once he got her attention, he began telling her what she needed to do.

"Do you see that tree over there?!" She nodded. "Good! Grab the kids and Torako and run for that tree. You all have to climb up there and stay safe. Get onto the roof if you have to!" He told her. "What about you guys?!" She asked. "I'll distract them, everyone else will have to run for cover until this is over!" He answered. She nodded. "Wait for my signal!"

He steeled his nerves and charged forward. He pushed through the dead. He sliced limbs off to make a path for himself. He ducked under grasping arms. He was surrounded entirely by corpses trying to eat him. His breath came in gasps. He had nowhere to go. The bodies crushed him from the outside. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't see, he was losing it!

He blinked sweat out of his eyes and crouched. He curled up, hugging his knees. Surprisingly, the dead just walked on past him, some tripping over him. He felt like he'd be sick if he stood back up. His stomach felt empty and flip flopped and his body shook. Cold nausea swept over him in a wave.

_Okay._

_Okay._

_Breath. Just breath. All you gotta do is breathe, Rin. You have to do this. Do it for your family._

He swallowed the bile rising in his throat and took a few deep breaths. It felt like a different world under the dead and the destroyed world. He crawled towards the tires he could just barely catch a glimpse of.

Finally, he reached the vehicle. He grasped the handle and seeing the door open, hoisted himself up onto the seat. He didn't even look for keys. He found the wires he needed and hot wired the car. It roared to life and he looked at the gas meter. Nearly empty, of course. Hopefully this thing ran good on fumes.

He reversed, took out a few corpses, then went forward. There weren't many in front now that they were all going toward the fresh meat. He cringed at the thought and started driving down the road. Fast enough to stay ahead, but slow enough for them to stay with him. He blasted whatever was in the CD player. American Rock began blaring and he grinned. It was perfect for an action scene in a movie. The dead slowly began to flock to him and he waved a hand out the window. In the mirror, he saw Izumo yell something to everyone and run with the kids and Torako to the tree he'd pointed out. He didn't see where everyone else went, but he kept driving.

It felt like forever until he made it out of the apartment complex. He made it to the main road and just as the thing went empty and started slowing down, a herd of dead walked right into the car. They must have gotten all in the tires and axle, because the car went wonky and started turning. Rin only had a second to realize what was happening as it happened.

The car plummeted down off the side of the road into a marsh below.


	4. Four: White Heather

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> White Heather– Protection, good luck

Izumo ran to the tree carrying Sachi. Tsukumo ran behind her and she was pulling Torako with her other hand. "Rin said to climb the tree no matter what!" She told Torako when the woman protested at the prospect of climbing. The woman had trouble, so Izumo made sure she didn't fall. She'd slipped a few times, but she made it. She was trying to figure out a way to get both Tsukumo and Sachi up there when Bon ran in to her.

"I'll get Sachi, you make sure Tsukumo doesn't fall." He told her, taking the baby. Both little girls were crying. Bon shushed Sachi. "Shh, shh. It's okay, Papa's here now. You have to be quiet so monsters don't come back, okay?" He told Sachi. She sniffled and nodded, bottom lip still trembling and face blotchy red.

He put Tsukumo on the highest branch he could reach, then let Izumo climb up before him. "Sachi, listen to me." He said. "Hold onto me as tight as you can while I climb, okay?" At her nod, he put her on his back and she held onto him with her tiny little fists. It felt like it took an hour to climb carefully to the roof, but they did it successfully.

Just as they reached the roof, they heard a _BOOM!_ and saw smoke coming up from somewhere outside the apartment complex. "That was Rin." Izumo murmured. "He probably got out. You'd be surprised how well he can slip out of bad situations." Bon assured her.

"Well, all we have to survive on right now is some blueberries from that blueberry farm we found earlier and a bottle of water. Hopefully, we won't be stranded up here." Izumo sighed.

They sat and watched the smoke curl into the sky as the dead flocked to the source of the commotion.

§~•~§~•~§

Shima had no idea who was behind him and Konekomeru. At first, he'd thought it was the corpses following them, but they were too fast to be the dead. It had to be someone from their group.

"Shima, we can stop now!" Konekomeru panted. The two stopped. They sent over, trying yo catch their breath as whoever was behind them stopped too. "Man......you......can really move when you......want to, can't you?" Shura gasped. She and Shiemi took gasping lungfuls of air right beside the two boys. Both boys had forgotten they'd been holding hands while running and hadn't let go. Shima went to retract his hand, embarrassed, but Konekomeru's smaller hand squeezed his. So the black-haired boy kept holding his hand.

They caught their breath for a while. Shura just happened to look up and notice a series of tree houses all connected to each other and wonder for a second who they belonged to.

–right as a net snapped up around them and they were thrown into each other.

Shura cursed in butchered English and struggled, but it did no good. Konekomeru was practically laying on top of him now, still holding his hand. "Shut up, lady!" A voice hissed from the tree they were dangling from. "Do you _want_ to get overrun by those things?!"

They all looked up to see a woman in some kind of armour weilding a handgun and a spear across her back. As they watched, more and more people stepped out of the treehouses. And they were all women. Shima had a bad feeling in his gut about this. Anytime there had been a group of all females in a zombie show or movie, they'd been like vicious Amazons–warrior women who were ultra strong and kept men as slaves to reproduce and do their dirty work in Greek mythology.

He really hoped these women weren't like that.

"Are you married?" The woman from before asked. She was looking at Shima and Konekomeru's intertwined fingers. Shima tensed up, not sure what to do. He felt Konekomeru shaking against him. The small teen curled up more against him and Shima squeezed his hand in reassurance.

"Yes. Don't tell anyone though." Shiemi answered for them. She, Torako, and Rin were impeccable at English. They'd all been practicing talking in English and teaching the little ones English so they could communicate with anyone they ran into in America. They'd been practicing on the ship the whole time, so they were pretty good at it, but Japanese accents were hard to get rid of after growing up speaking Japanese so fluently and only learning some butchered rendition of formal English.

"Why can't we tell anyone?" The woman questioned suspiciously. Shima wondered what Shiemi was playing at. "They're terribly shy and it's really new. Please don't make anyone focus on them too long. People make them nervous." The blonde answered pleadingly.

"Ah. Anxiety?" The woman guessed. Shiemi sighed and nodded while Shura rolled her eyes. "People were not kind to them in the Old Times." She muttered, reaching over to pat Konekomeru's shoulder. The boy flinched and held Shima's hand tighter. Wow, they were really playing this off, huh? Shima ignored his blush as he waited for the verdict.

"Then we won't take you. We keep men as service members, but we spare those who do not wish to make young with women." Shima furrowed his brows. "W-What's that mean?" He stuttered. "We won't take you guys. You're together, we won't hurt you. These two beauties however....." The woman turned a hungry gaze onto Shura and Shiemi.

"Do you wish to be with us? We have plenty of fighters and plenty of resources. You'd have to pull your own weight, but surely if you've survived this long on your own, you're very capable. Strong, by the looks of it." She was eying Shura's biceps and Shiemi's legs.

Walking around Japan for most of their journey, then walking around and training on a huge battleship that was difficult to navigate earned you some solid muscles. _I've always wanted to be built at least a little bit. All I had to do was wait for the Zombie Apocalypse. Go figure._

Shima held down the snicker at his own thoughts. He could feel Konekomeru's heart beating hard against his chest and wrapped his other arm around the smaller teen. He'd grown during this whole thing and his hair was actually starting to get shaggy, but he probably wouldn't ever be as tall as Shima, maybe barely Rin's height. His dad hadn't been a very tall man and his mom had been shorter than his father. The short genes just wouldn't allow the teen to grow much taller.

".......So, wanna join up? We could be strong together. We could make good memories and survive this until the world comes back to it's senses." The woman was saying to Shura and Shiemi when Shima came back out of his thoughts.

"Do it." He murmured to them. "What?!" Shura looked at him like he was nuts. "Do it. You should be safe. You're good people." He told them, voice still quiet. He had to act shy.

Konekomeru shifted and hugged Shura. "Stay here until we're back. It's best for you." He whispered in her ear, too quiet for anyone but the people in the net to hear. He hugged Shiemi next. "We'll come for you. Rin would want it to be like this until we're back together." He whispered to her just as quiet. She nodded just barely.

"O-Okay." The blonde nodded to the woman. She seemed overjoyed and other women grinned wide. They probably didn't come across new members very often. "Can I ask for something?" Shura spoke up. The woman raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Our friends here.....they're strong, but all our supplies are gone. We just lost them in a mob. Do you think you could spare just a little? Just a day's worth? Please?" She requested. She looked pleadingly at the woman. The woman looked skeptical, but once Shieni turned the puppy eyes in her, she sighed before cracking. "Fine. Just a day's worth." She relented. Shura smiled relieved. "Thank you so much."

"A woman who takes care of her people is a respectable woman." The armoured woman told her. She signaled to a couple another warriors and the net was pulled up so they could clamber onto the tree house.

Konekomeru stayed tucked into Shima's side the small span of time it took the women to gather a bag of food and water. Shima, without thinking, leaned down to plant a kiss on the smaller boy's cheek. Konekomeru blushed, but didn't tense up or freeze. The woman that had caught them smiled at them, handing them their bag. "I wish you well." She said. She lowered them back down in the net and they set off into the woods, holding hands with their weapons in their free hands.


	5. Five: Snapdragon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Snapdragon–strength

Crawling out of the wrecked van at the bottom of the marsh was harder than it needed to be.

Rin hoped his luck would hold out, but he knew deep down he'd sustain _some_ injuries.

For starters, he knew he'd hit his head on the wheel hard enough to make his vision blur in and out. It was disorienting and he wanted to vomit every time he moved, but he needed to get away from the van.

He wasn't fast enough, so of course, it exploded and threw him into a tree. He blacked out and woke back up choking on water at the bottom of the marsh, which tasted absolutely horrible. Fortunately for his group, the plan worked and the dead were all flocking to the burning van.

Unfortunately for _Rin,_ he was still there and could barely think straight enough to even take inventory on his injuries. He pulled himself up using a tree, but the world tilted and he clapped a hand over his mouth. He swallowed down the bile and blinked the black dots out of his eyes. One ear was ringing, he hoped that wasn't permanent. Blood was running into his left eye and he wiped at it. The action didn't do much,more blood just flower down into it.

When he tried to walk, pain arced up his left leg from his ankle. Okay. So that might be fractured or broken. Good to know.

He limped very slowly. Fortunately, his sword was still with him, so he could haphazardly lop off the heads of the dead while leaning on the blade occasionally. Hopefully, he wouldn't end up accidentally falling on his sword in some butchered form of Seppuku. His breath was rattling in his chest and he really hoped he didn't have internal bleeding. There was at least one rib broken for sure, though. His throat was sore and burned from inhaling smoke and he coughed. He gagged a few times before finally losing his lunch in the midst of the coughing fit.

Everything hurt. Moving hurt. Breathing hurt. Seeing and hearing hurt.

So he was in very bad shape. It was a miracle he was even on his feet.

Rin couldn't think well. His head hurt, his eyesight was shit, he couldn't walk on his ankle, he couldn't breathe and he had no resources other than his sword.

He concentrated as best he could on just limping. Keep going. Just keep going until he didn't hear them anymore.

Eventually, he tripped and fell, which didn't help any of his injuries. He dragged himself to a tree and sat up against it. He was done.

It got harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He felt another coughing fit overtake him as he hunched over and dry heaved more.

His body ran out of energy and he settled down. Finally, his eyes remained closed. He couldn't tell if he stopped breathing or not, but he passed out against the rough bark of the tree.

§~•~§~•~§

"Shima, you have to be careful!" Konekomeru worriedly bandaged the cut on the teen's forehead.

"M'fine Koneko." He mumbled. They'd found some kind of hunters cabin. There was a couple cans of dog food and cranberry sauce, which had been their dinner that night. Some corpses had come shambling up to the black-haired boy when he was gathering firewood. Shima fell and sustained a small cut on his head, but it was nothing to worry about. They took care of the dead and hurried back inside.

"How do you think everyone else is?" The smaller teen asked quietly.

"I don't know, Koneko. I hope Rin is okay, but there's no way he's not injured after that drop. I think I saw Bon, Izumo, Torako, and the kids all run to one of the buildings. Shiemi and Shura are safe with the Amazon women. No clue where Paku went at all." Shima answered honestly.

"I don't like this. Being split up. It's so quiet. And cold." Konekomeru shivered and rubbed his arms against the rapidly dropping temperatures of Springtime.

Shima pulled the teen to him. They readjusted so Konekomeru was tucked into his side comfortably in the small twin-sized bed. "Then we'll stay warm." Shima murmured. He could feel Konekomeru's blush through his shirt.

Konekomeru laced their fingers together and Shima hummed. "You like holding hands?" He guessed. There was a short silence before he got an answer. "I....I like holding _your_ hand." The boy corrected. "Hm. I like holding yours too. It's nice." Shima decided.

"You kissed me. Back at the tree village." Konekomeru recalled. "Yep." Shima agreed. He peeked open an eye to look down at his childhood friend. "Did it mean anything?" The smaller teen wondered. "Did to me. Hope it meant something to you." Shima answered simply. He was too tired to bullshit right now and he'd been crushing on Konekomeru since first year in middle school.

"Kiss me again?" Konekomeru requested. Shima smiled and leaned down. This kiss was placed on Konekomeru's lips. They kissed delicately.

They spent the next hour lazily kissing until they both fell asleep.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin blearily opened his eyes and blinked a few times. He went to rub the grit out of his eyes, but his hands were covered in dirt and flaking dried blood. The forest was pretty clear. No zombies nearby. Animals chittered and squeaked. It was cool in the shade of the trees, but sunlight reached through in small beams that broke through the foliage of the tall trees.

Rin figured that since he'd been covered in mud, dirt, and blood, the dead had skipped right over him when walking past. He didn't see or feel any bites on his body and he was in the same position he fell asleep in. Or, he was pretty sure he was. His memory was screwy when it came to anything beyond him driving a minivan down into a marsh and being surrounded by dead people.

He got up very slowly, leaning heavily on the tree. His hearing was back to normal and he could see fine, so that was good. That meant he didn't have a concussion or at least not a bad one. His ribs hurt like a bitch and it was still difficult to breathe. Rin really hoped they didn't heal the wrong way. His ankle still hurt a lot. He'd have to find some way to clean himself up so whatever open wounds he had wouldn't get infected.

He used his katana as a cane and walked for a while. He had no idea where he was. He'd somehow stumbled far enough away from the apartment complex that he couldn't see it at all. He even climbed a tree(very painfully)just to make sure, but the trees might have been too tall to see over.

Wonderful.

He didn't like being alone with his thoughts. When he was left alone, he had time to be forced to acknowledge the fact that he liked being alone. No one to tell him something wasn't a good idea. No kids to constantly worry about when they weren't with him. No boyfriend to nag at him about certain things. No brother to piss him off 24/7. No group to lead and take care of.

He could do whatever he wanted.

He could be as reckless as he wanted.

The thought that he still had to find everyone at some point and rejoin them didn't hinder him from being reckless. That was probably a bad thing, but Rin craved the freedom this gave him. He needed time to be alone like he used to. Before, he'd never had friends and was forever alone with his depressed thoughts closing in on him the more time he spent alone.

Yukio had died and he'd been alone. He'd been able to do what we he wanted and be as reckless as he wanted with no one to stop him or slow him down.

Having a family and a boyfriend was great. Having a daughter wasn't something he'd wanted at sixteen and especially not in the Zombie Apocalypse, but he'd made a promise and he didn't break promises. He'd train Sachi like Mamushi had asked him. He'd make her strong and able to take care of herself. The worry of being a parent would always be there nagging him, but it would hopefully lessen when she got older and stronger.

Rin wondered what direction he was going in. He needed to eat soon. He'd seen some dandelions popping up in patches along the forest floor. He knew the stems could be eaten, had seen it in survival shows on TV. For now, he could snack on those and hopefully not have to resort to bugs. He had a sword, an axe, and a backup handgun. The gun could work for hunting, but there was always a problem with guns in the Apocalypse– they drew too much attention from the dead.

Rin hoped he would have to deal with that. Maybe he could make a plan on how to keep that from happening?

As he mused, he heard a crack and spotted the squirrel that had just fallen out of a tree. It was still alive, but it's leg was broken.

Rin didn't hesitate to slide his sword through its eye sockets and thought it's brain. Looked like he had breakfast. Or lunch. Whatever time of day it was.

He got a small fire going with the old but manageable technique of clashing two rocks together on top of a small nest of dry material. It took a while for it to work and get a good fire going, but he finally managed. He ate dandelion stems and cooked squirrel for breakfast. It wasn't much, but it was enough to sustain him for a while.

He stared at the fire and got an idea.

§~•~§~•~§

"We're running out of food. Think the woods are safe to hunt in?" Bon wondered to Izumo while the girls played with their dolls. "I'd hope so. That explosion had their attention and then there was that huge fire   
yesterday. They're all over there, so it should be safe for us, right?" Izumo answered. Bon grinned. He was convinced it was Rin who'd started the fire. For what reason, they didn't know, but it was definitely a Rin thing to do. Rin was on his own probably, so he had no one to tell him he couldn't do things. He didn't tell Bon, but the teen knew that Rin was itching to be cut loose. Being stick with everyone's lives on your shoulders must be really difficult.

When he'd seen the huge plume of black smoke come up from somewhere in the forest a ways away from the marsh, he'd muttered "Go ham, I guess." And Kamiki and his mother both looked at him like he was crazy.

"It was Rin until proven otherwise." He'd shrugged.

"I'll go hunt, stay here." He ordered. He moved to climb down the tree they'd first come up. Most of their supplies were lost in the mob two days before, so that put them in a pretty bad place supplies-wise.

He came back later with three squirrels and a rabbit. The bunny was a lucky kill. He'd had to run in circles a few times and then dispatch the dead drawn to his gunshots, but he made it and climbed back into their little safe haven by sundown.

"I also got some firewood and rocks to start a fire." He set the materials down.

"That's good. I guess we're going caveman style." Izumo sighed in relief. It took them an annoying amount of time to get a spark and longer to get a fire going, but they managed. "How does Rin always manage to do this so quickly?" Bon muttered, balancing the dead animals on the sticks skewered through them.

"Wasn't he alone for almost an entire year? He got good at it since he didn't want to die, obviously." Izumo pointed out. Bon rolled his eyes. Even in the Apocalypse, there would always be someone to annoy him, go figure.

But that was part of Izumo's charm. Strangely, her snappy personality just made Bon want to be with her more. Maybe because she argued like he and Rin had in the beginning of their relationship. They'd argued like cats and dogs and sometimes still did, but it never really mattered what they argued about, they always made up in the end.

With Izumo, Bon didn't know what to do with his affection towards her. He loved Rin, but Izumo was also alluring. They'd spent literally a year on a ship arguing and sometimes working great together.

He noticed Rin and Izumo connected through having similar pasts and understanding that they had to raise these kids in a world filled with the undead. Both had only one parent, said parents weren't exactly the best parents, and as a result, both had grown up not so great. Kids had bullied them at school. The difference was, Rin grew up virtually alone because his twin had been trying to be a doctor and no one had time for him, whereas Izumo had at least Paku and Tsukumo for company.

Bon could relate to both with their shared issue of Daddy Issues. Izumo didn't have one, Rin's neglected him, and Bon's did the same. The other thing that tied them together was the kids. Rin was such a mom and it was amusing to watch him fuss over Sachi and Tsukumo whenever they got the tiniest boo-boo or even a mosquito bite. He even fussed over everyone else in the group. Everyone, that is, except for Izumo.

Bon figured Rin recognized Izumo as another mom and didn't bother her unless she was injured. When she had a huge scrape up the inside of her thigh and knee, Rin literally carried her everywhere and had Bon carry both Sachi and Tsukumo. The girl had complained the whole time, but Rin and Bon both knew she appreciated it.

So the trio of parents had a weird relationship that they had no time to explore because they were busy surviving and raising the next generation.

But right now, Bon enjoyed the calm silence between everyone while they ate a good dinner. America seemed nicer than Japan in this kind of world. Rin was right–there was more room to run around, more freedom for them.

He hoped this country yielded a home for them.


	6. Six: Blue Violet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blue Violet–Watchfulness

Marshall sighed frustratedly, kicking a rock away from her.

"Marshall, what's wrong?" Her sister came from behind to stand beside her. "I got this feelin. Feels like I'm waitin for somethin, but I don't know what." Marshall answered in a heavy southern accent she'd picked up from living there so long.

"Sounds fun. Do you think we're waiting for a good thing?" Chelsea wondered curiously. She'd never developed a southern accent like her twin sister. "It don't make me feel sick to my stomach on top of my hatred for waitin, so I think so. Or at least, it won't hurt us." Marshall explained. Chelsea hummed.

"What do you think it'll be?" Chelsea asked. "Girls. I _really_ want it to be girls." Marshall admitted truthfully. Her sister pushed her playfully and they both laughed. "I just want it to be people. People that don't suck. It's empty around here." Chelsea sighed.

"See, if it was just me and another pretty girl, it'd be loud out here and we'd probably die quickly after disturbin the dead." Marshall pointed out with a smirk. Chelsea pushed her again, to which the girl cackled louder. "Stop making terrible sex jokes, I've already heard all of them!" The younger complained.

They went inside and slept once the sun was down and their energy was low, hoping for something good to come to them.


	7. Seven: Traveler's Joy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Traveler's Joy-Rest

Rin bit his lip, staring after the stumbling corpse. Guilt curled deep in his stomach.

Paku's corpse trampled over leaves and sticks, still fresh, clothes still mostly clean. A clear bite on her forearm told Rin all he needed to know. The girl was still quite flimsy and wasn't one for fighting.

She probably tried to block the thing from biting her face and instead got a bite on the arm. If she'd had a bladed weapon, she could've chopped that part of her arm off and hoped for the best, but she'd probably just die of blood loss and shock anyways.

Rin knew she wouldn't last long. But she meant a lot to Izumo and was so sweet and loved the kids. Paku was strong in different ways than him, or Bon, or Izumo. She was a bright presence alongside Shiemi.

But those didn't last long in worlds like these. Shiemi had learned to be strong and still sweet like Honeysuckle. Paku refused that path and this was the result.

Rin unsheathed his sword, came up from behind, and slid it cleanly through her head. She dropped easily. He laid her down carefully. His ankle was healing decently and it hurt less to walk on, so the task wasn't too daunting.

He took the necklace around her neck that he knew Izumo had a matching one to. He took the diamond ring that had belonged to Paku's mother. He pocketed the items and closed her dead eyes. Rin did his best to cover her with leaves and picked a few flowers to lay on top of her. He hadn't known her very well, but he knew she meant a lot to Izumo and did it for her so the sadness of Paku's death wouldn't be wasted on himself.

The best send-off he could give.

He sighed and moved on, deeper into the trees.

§~•~§~•~§

Shima and Koneko had made a kind of domestic life in the cabin they'd first stayed in. It was cozy enough and they kept a fire going at least until they fell asleep.

They were able to find animals to eat. Konekomeru was sad over the bird that fell from the nest, but a guy's gotta eat.  
They slept in the same bed and held hands a lot. Life was easier with just the two of them surviving.

But it felt empty. No kids giggling and being cute. No Rin giving orders they knew they could trust. No stories of how everyone grew up being traded over a fire. No seeing Rin and Bon and Sachi being a wholesome little family in the Apocalypse.

And there was also no watching the tension between Rin, Bon, and Izumo grow either. It was interesting to watch, really. Rin and Bon were very in love and a great team already. Izumo was smart like Bon and good at strategy like Rin. But she was very tsundere and saw things in a different way then the two guys did.

Izumo was a very careful person. She thought things over and then decided what was the best course of action with the least damage. Rin could come up with plans on the fly and make them work while Bon thought too much about things and hated making the decision because there was never one where everything went perfectly. Izumo spoke up about her opinions when she thought them to be noteworthy, no matter how harsh or how negative the opinion may be.

"Do you think everyone is trying to find each other right now or are we all sitting and waiting for each other?" Konekomeru wondered. "That'd be awkward." Shima laughed.

"Somebody finally finds someone else and they're like 'Did you look for me?" And they go "No, I was waiting for you" and the first is like "Oh, I was waiting for _you._ " He described in a very _Shima_ way. Konekomeru snorted in amusement. "That _would_ be awkward." He snickered.

§~•~§~•~§

Shura and Shiemi were doing better than probably anyone else in the group.

Shura spent several nights in the Leader's bed enjoying herself shamelessly.

Shiemi was treated like a delicacy. She was shy and caring and the lady warriors loved it so much that they let her have whatever she wanted. The children loved listening to stories Shiemi told them that her mother had told her as a child.

"The Garden of Amahara is a garden that holds all of the plants in the world." She told the children. One sat on her lap and one played with her hair while another weaved a bracelet around her wrist.

Shiemi was dressed in a soft white cotton dress and had flowers braided into her hair. She had a necklace made with string and a droplet of amber with a fly caught in it. The Lady Warriors told her that if one found a fly trapped in amber (hardened tree sap), it would give luck to the person who had it.

"All of the plants?" A little girl gasped. "All of them." Shiemi affirmed. "Every tree, every fruit, every vegetable, every flower and every bush and every herb. Every single one."

"My grandmother told me that good people go there when they die. They live in the most beautiful and wonderful place forever." She smiled softly.

The Lady warriors wanted to get her pregnant to produce more children with good genes, but they couldn't ask the girl. She was just so pure and pregnancy was hard with no technology or medicine or even vitamins. They didn't want to ruin the lovely girl.

Shura helped with heavylifting and hunting. She was like a Warrior Princess. The Leader had provided her with a bearskin dress and beaded jewelry. She felt like Wonder Woman.

The two lucky women flourished.

§~•~§~•~§

"Could you two just kiss or something before the kids and I drown in the tension?" Torako sighed suddenly on their third day in the rooftop. Bon and Izumo whipped around and stared at her incredulously. "Mom!" Bon gaped.

"There's something between you two that's the same thing between you and Rin. The tension is getting a little high, go hunting together or something, it's stifling." Torako complained.

So they did what she said–they went hunting together.

"We're not talking about that, right?" Izumo guessed. "I mean, we probably should, but no, we won't." Bon admitted honestly.

"Just wait for Rin to be with us to talk?" Izumo guessed again. "Yeah, he's a lot better with emotions than we are." Bon nodded.

They hunted and found some good game for dinner. The tension was somewhat lower when they went back.

§~•~§~•~§

Kinzou and Yukio had retreated into a building. They'd gotten lucky and there weren't too many undead in it. There were enough for Yukio to sustain a bite on his shin when they missed a Crawler, though.

For the last three days, they'd waited for him to start turning while surviving on food and water Kinzou had had in his small pack, but on the fourth day, Kinzou pulled him close and kissed the daylights out of him. "W-What was that for?" Yukio asked breathlessly. "You're not turning, so I can kiss you all I want." The blonde replied happily. No one else could stand Yukio and his trashy attitude, but Kinzou guessed it just took a certain kind of person to be able to stay with a guy like Yukio. And he was that guy.

Waking up next to him in the morning with the sunlight sweeping across Yukio's face as he slept was something he'd never get tired of. When he had his glasses off and his expression wasn't bitter, or angry, or hurt. Or when he woke up. He'd blink his eyes open and see Kinzou and he'd smile. "Good morning." He'd murmur, and lean over for a kiss.

When it was just the two of them, it was almost perfect.

Almost.

Kinzou couldn't shake the worry he had for his brother and his niece. For Bon and Torako and Rin, the boy who quickly warmed up to Bon and settled in with them like he'd grown up with them. For all the girls that'd joined them along the way. He knew they were all strong, but anything could happen. This world held too many inconveniences.

They'd run out of food when they ate breakfast, then they'd go outside to look for their family and more food.


	8. Eight: Cactus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cactus–warmth, endurance

Rin woke up radiating heat like a furnace. He breathed out humid steam and looked down at himself. He hadn't burned his clothes away, so the heat must be internal.

He did his best not to panic at the strange goings-on of his body. It wasn't that hot outside and Rin himself didn't feel like he was burning up, but he felt himself burning, if that made any sense.

The heat turned the leaves around him crisp and agitated the Bee Hive a few branches away him as the worker bees woke up. He cursed quietly and took several deep breaths, closing his eyes, trying to calm his racing pulse, which seemed to make the heat double.

It died down some and he opened his eyes. He looked down at the veins in his arms. They were glowing, though it was difficult to tell in the daylight.

He shook his head. Slowly, Rin climbed down from the tree he'd slept in. He dropped down and started running before the bees could fully wake up and attack him. He'd be damned if he let himself end up like that one girl in the first Hunger Games with the freaky poisonous wasps. Hell no. No thanks. Not happening.

Rin stopped running and caught his breath. His ankle still ached and so did the rest of his body, but it was better than it was when he'd first escaped the van he'd crashed.

The heat had died down more. He calmed himself, listening for any suspicious noises, but hearing none, thankfully. It took a few minutes that felt more like half an hour, but the heat fully went back to just being regular body heat. Rin breathed a sigh of relief.

He straightened up and blinked in surprise.

_Is that who I think it is.....?_

§~•~§~•~§

"Woah, Rin?!" Shura yelled.

The buck she had been aiming for with a spear jumped and made to run, but without even looking, Rin raised his gun and shot it through the eyes. The Buck's heavy body fell and silence followed before Rin walked towards her and she all out ran.

She grabbed his face and planted kisses all over it. He had dirt and blood and grime all over him, so it must have been gross, but she didn't seem to care. With a final kiss planted on his forehead, she hugged him tight.

The woman was dressed like a Warrior Queen with a short animal skin dress and beaded jewelry on her wrists, ankles, and around her neck, a crown of beads and feathers in her hair.

"Oh my God, we missed you so much! Come on, we gotta go get Shiemi! But, just a warning, let me do the talking." She told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him behind her. He finally registered what just happened and tugged his hand out of hers.

The teen ran back to the buck, grabbed it's legs, and lifted it on his shoulders with only mild difficulty. Then he followed Shura to the treehouses. They were truly impressive.

She talked to the women for a while, then silence ensued. Finally, a woman who seemed to be in charge of the whole tree society dropped down to the forest floor.

"You know her and Shiemi?" She asked. Rin nodded.

"What?!" Rin heard a gasp before Shiemi peered over the edge of one of the treehouses and grinned wide.

"Rin! You're here!" She cried excitedly. A bunch of little kids surrounded her and little heads peered over to see him. Rin blinked and smiled hesitantly.

"Hey kids." He greeted. Several of them giggled and some waved.

"Can I please have my people back?" He looked back to the woman standing in front of him surveying his appearance. "I can't give you this buck, but I could possibly find another one. Or several smaller animals." He offered as a show of goodwill. "What do you need that one for?" The woman quirked a critical eyebrow.

"I have to feed my family. It shouldn't take me long to find everyone after I get these two back." He answered seriously. She raised her eyebrows. "Are you _really_ asking for them back?" She wondered suspiciously. Rin grinned in that unnerving way of his.

"I'm asking, but I don't think they'll stay with you even if you refuse. And if you force them to stay, I can assure you I know how to use every weapon I carry very well. I don't want to make any of those cute little ankle-biters orphans, so this is me being diplomatic." He told her truthfully.

"He's not kidding." Shura warmed her helpfully. The woman snorted. "Honesty. That's a good quality. How big is your group?" She continued asking questions. Rin sighed and sat the buck down on the ground with a grunt.

"Let's see. Shura, did you see anyone go down?" He consulted the woman. She shook her head. "Alright. I told Izumo where to go, I saw Ryuji follow her, so they should be fine. What about Konekomeru and Shima? Or Yukio and Kinzou?"

"I didn't see where they went. Ah, we were with Shima and Konekomeru and they told us to stay here to keep us safe. I was told there was a cabin not too far from here that they could've found, so that's our best shot." She recalled.

"Okay, so we only lost Paku as far as we know. She got bitten and I put her to sleep." He explained to them. Shura winced. Izumo would be incredibly upset. She and Paku had been best friends since they were little kids. They'd grown up together. The purple-haired girl would be devastated.

Rin winced too and sighed. "We've got eleven people total. So, what will it be? We have to round everybody up by dinner." He looked expectantly at the Leader Lady.

She contemplated for a minute before seemingly coming to a conclusion. "Do you have kids in your group? Actually, just name who your group is to you." She told him.

"Well, that's a little personal, but okay." He grumbled. "Okay. I have my younger twin brother, my boyfriend, our adopted daughter, my boyfriend's mom, Shiemi and Shura are like sisters to me. Uh, Izumo means something to me that's more complicated than a best friend, she has a little sister that we kind of just think of as our second daughter. Then, we have Shima, his big brother Kinzou, and Konekomeru. They're like the brothers I wanted, but never had." He listed off.

"How do you have an adopted daughter?" The woman looked confused, and rightfully so. It was a strange concept.

"Her parents died, but not before her mom made me promise to raise her daughter to be strong and able to make it in this world. So, I'm doing what I promised. She's about two now." He answered with a shrug.

"Honorable. And your boyfriend, does he look after your group too?" The Leader questioned. "Yes. All of us do our part, but it's mostly Me, Ryuji, Kinzou, and Shura. Torako is older and wiser, but her reflexes arent as good as ours, so her and Izumo teach the kids what they'd learn in school. We've been training Shiemi to trust her instincts and better her reflexes since we picked her up. Konekomeru is good at making plans and keeping inventory and Shima teaches the kids how to get away from Zombies and strangers. I try to make it so that the others don't have to freak out over everything every second of every day and just let me or one of the other three handle it. Is this a background check?"

She quirked a smirk. "Best one I can give. You're free to go, Ladies. It was an honor knowing you and having the pleasure of being in your company. And you can keep your deer. You'd better make those girls strong, kid." She told him seriously. He nodded and he, Shiemi, and Shura were on their way.

Rin pretended not to notice the lingering kiss the Leader shared with Shura before they left.

"Off to find Shima and Koneko, yes?" Shura suggested. Rin nodded and they started walking.


	9. Nine: Yellow Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yellow Rose–Joy, friendship

They actually ran into Yukio and Kinzou before they found Shima and Konekomeru. Rin latched onto his brother without hesitation.

"I got bit." Yukio murmured, muffled in Rin's shoulder. Rin froze. "It was five days ago. I'm fine." Yukio said. Rin relaxed. "We think that after the first time, the infection just doesn't pass over to him anymore. The bite even healed like a normal cut." Kinzou informed him.

Rin knew what they were trying to say. "Because I trust that you understand what I've been trying to tell you and I trust that you value my daughters' safety, I guess you can be around the kids and Torako." Rin sighed. He was practically laying on Yukio now. "Are you okay? You seem tired." Yukio wondered. Rin let out a grunt.

"I've slept." He said defensively. "That doesn't mean you actually got rest, Rin. Especially if you've been sleeping in the trees like you used to." Yukio told him sternly. Rin let out another grunt.

"I'm gonna punch you later, Kinzou." Rin told the blonde. The man nodded in acceptance. "That's fair." It _was_ his fault they all got separated on the first place.

"Alright, Koneko and Shima should be close by in that cabin they told me about." Shura pointed in a general direction and they continued catching up on the way.

Shura and Shiemi reported what happened with them while Rin listened silently, not having much energy to expend after running more than he should have that morning and putting off way too much heat than normal for a human being.

"Rin, are you sure you're okay?" Shiemi asked him worriedly. He was pulled out of his sluggish thoughts. "Hm? Oh, I'm fine. Keep talking." He dismissed her worry. "I think he's just tired, Shiemi." Yukio tried to comfort her, but she shook her head.

"You guys didn't see that explosion. He crashed really bad. I really don't believe that he's fine. He's still limping, but that's all that's left of the injuries he should've had." She argued. "Yeah, I've seen plenty of people in car crashes. It's never pretty. You should have _at least_ a minor concusion. There's no way you got out of that unscathed." Shura turned to Rin.

The teen rolled his eyes and kept walking. "I'm fine. I healed fast. I thought I had a concussion, but whatever it was was gone by the time I woke up after that fiasco. I think I smelled like the corpses because of all the dirt and blood, so they just ignored me when they passed by while I was out." He huffed.

"And your ankle?" Shura demanded. "I could barely walk on it and by all means, it should be worse after I've run on it so much, but it's healing pretty good so far." Rin shrugged.

"You know what, I'll check over you later when we've found everyone." Yukio decided. He didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but Rin could just be numb to his injuries after living with them for a while. Rin hummed and before any other topic could come up for them to talk about, they spotted Shima carrying firewood into a small, cozy looking cabin.

"Renzou!" Kinzou ran up and grabbed his younger brother in a bear hug. "Kinzou?!" Shima cried in surprise. "Koneko! They found us!" He called into the house excitedly. Said teen walked out and smiled at them all. "Nice! We figured whoever got Shura and Shiemi would find us next." He greeted them.

"Alright, so now all we're missing is Izumo, Torako, Bon, the kids, and Paku." Shima counted them off. "Paku's dead. She got bitten." Rin told him solemnly. "Oh. Okay, so do we know where anyone else is?" Konekomeru asked.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure they all camped out on the roof of a building back at the apartments. It's nearly cleared out by now. We figured we'd find you guys first and then pick them up since they seem to be doing fine." Yukio answered.

"Good. So which way are the apartments, because I lost all sense of direction after I crashed the van." Rin wondered sheepishly. "This way." Kinzou laughed. He led them in the same direction for about an hour and a half before Rin saw the trees start to get thinner and thinner until they were in a large clearing of grass with the apartment buildings looming at a distance.

Rin felt uncomfortable shivers run down his spine and frowned. He knew he should be happy that everything was back to normal now, but he couldn't shake the feeling.

The feeling of being on his own, wild and free and able to do whatever he wanted. The feeling of not having to care about doing certain things and not doing certain things just because other people wanted him to. "Rin? What's wrong?" Shiemi slowed down to drop back with him at the back of the group.

"I....I haven't been on my own in so long. It....felt nicer than it should have. Not having to listen to anyone else's opinions or complaints or requests. I could just do what I wanted and no one gave a shit about it because no one was there." He explained frustratedly. "Ohhh, I get it." She said, patting him on the arm.

"Before, you were all alone and had no one. So that felt lonely and sad for you. But now, you're the Leader of a group and everyone looks to you. You even have a daughter to raise that you never asked for. I think that because now you're always surrounded by people with problems and you have to take care of everyone, you need to have time to yourself sometimes so it doesn't get to be too frustrating for you as our leader." She explained simply. "And honestly, we should be better about giving you that time. We've gotten too dependant on you. We need to shape up." She added thoughtfully.

Rin smiled tiredly. "Yeah? Thanks Shiemi."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, School is about to start back up again and that means starting my Senior Year. In a year, I'll have to say goodbye to dances and rallies and football games. I'm gonna miss highschool. 😓 And I only get from October to the end of May for the events, so Homecoming is already out of the list. I missed my first Prom last year and that sucked because I was so excited to go. I know growing up and being responsible is a part of life, but I'm not ready for the party to stop yet. I hope you guys are doing better than I am in Quarantine.


	10. Ten: Red Rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Red Rose–Love, I love you, respect, beauty

They were almost to the apartments and Rin saw someone stand up. Familiar brunette curls had him grinning wide and he waved excitedly. 

Bon climbed down the giant pine tree as fast as he could and ran across the open field if overgrown grass. He picked Rin up and Rin wrapped his legs around Bon's waist. They kissed and nothing else mattered. Zombies could be flooding the field around them. Wild animals could be stampeding. A meteor could have hit the Earth and neither of them would care. All Rin needed was Bon in that moment. 

Bon planted kisses all over his boyfriend's face, making the teen giggle. He planted his own kisses on Bon's jaw and clung to him until he had to climb back up the pine tree to get Sachi.

"Nah, it's fine. I'll get her." Kinzou told them, teaching a branch and pulling himself up. Rin hummed and laid his head on Bon's shoulder. "How hurt were you?" Bon wondered. "Pretty hurt. Shouldn't even be able to move right now, but y'know, apparently I heal really fast, so here I am. Oh, and Paku's dead. No clue how I'm gonna tell Izumo." He answered tiredly. 

Bon snorted. "You need sleep. And I'm sure someone else can tell Izumo about Paku. We'll deal with your should-be injuries later since they're not bothering you too much right now." He suggested. "'Kay." Rin murmured. He was completely relaxed in Bon's arms and it was so nice to hold him so close like this. Even when his arms got tired, Bon didn't think he'd let Rin go.

Everyone was now on the ground with them, but Rin didn't address them. 

Bon cleared his throat. "You wanna move out or find a place nearby to stay?" He asked his boyfriend. "I brought dinner." Rin answered, to which Shura snorted out a laugh. "There's plenty for everyone, too." Shiemi agreed. 

§~•~§~•~§

Everyone was winding down or already asleep after dinner. They'd eaten every little piece of meat off that deer and now Shura was trying to cure the deer hide to make clothes or maybe a cloak. She claimed that the Amazon Women had taught her a few useful skills. 

Izumo had cried over dinner when Bon told her about Paku. Rin had apologized, expecting slander for not burying the girl, but instead got a hug from the girl. "Thank you." She'd croaked. "For putting her down. And the flowers. I know you didn't really know her well." Rin had hesitantly hugged her back. 

Now, Rin laid tucked into Bon's chest with the teen's arms around him. Izumo slept next to him, which was very new to him. Sachi and Tsukumo slept next to to Torako. Yukio and Kinzou slept snuggled together, as did Shima and Konekomeru. Shura and Shiemi slept next to Torako and the kids.

Rin wished he had a camera so he could preserve this moment. Everyone was full, everyone was back together, and everyone was sleeping peacefully like there was nothing to worry about.

Rin leaned up and planted a kiss on his boyfriend's lips and snuggled into him. Both Bon and Izumo held him tighter.

Out of his entire life, including Before, Rin thought this was his favorite day ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UwU here's some fluff in the Apocalypse, enjoy it, cuz honey you've got a big storm comin.


	11. Eleven: Betony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Betony–Surprise

For the next month, they went from car to car, gas station to gas station, until they came across a farmhouse. Which let to this moment in time where they were held at gunpoint by two girls that looked oddly familiar to Rin.

"Drop the sword, Samurai Jack." One woman demanded with a mild southern accent. She had ice-blue eyes with an interesting dark blue ring around the irises, freckles dotting her tanned skin, and chin length, wavy chocolate-brown hair. She could've been anywhere from eighteen to twenty-five, Rin couldn't tell. She held the gun with obvious experience beyond surviving in the Zombie Apocalypse–she might have had a job that had to do with guns before everything went down.

The second woman had neatly cut blunt bangs and straight hair the same shade as the firsts' that went to her collarbones, her freckles much fainter and fewer. Aside from the straight hair, lack of freckles, and slightly darker blue eyes, Rin figured they could have been twins or at least sisters close in age. She didn't have any weapons pulled, only standing next to her sister in front of the strangers intruding on their claimed home. She fully trusted her sister's skill in taking care of unwanted company and Rin hoped they could get out of this without anyone getting hurt.

Their faces seemed familiar to Rin for a reason he couldn't remember and it clicked for Ryuji before it clicked for Rin. "Babe, do you think that's those same girls?" He muttered to his boyfriend. Rin shrugged in response. "So do we risk pulling out the photo?" Izumo wondered. "It's girls!" Sachi interrupted the adults quiet conversation.

"'Scuse me?" The first girl asked, furrowing her brow. "Girls from the house!" Tsukumo agreed. "What?" The second girl asked, with no accent at all. "Sorry! You see, we stayed in a house a while back and there were pictures of a family with two daughters. The children think you're them." Shiemi apologized in her deceptively soft voice. Rin had seen her bash the shit out of walking corpses with her shovel mercilessly and the gardener had taken him down during training with brute strength alone. Rin figured gardening and being active her whole life kept her fit, even if she did still seem to hang on to that childish roundness in her cheeks.

"You said something about a picture?" The second girl asked. "Yea! We have picture of girls!" Sachi said. Rin sighed. "We need to teach you about Stranger Danger." He huffed while Bon nodded in agreement. "You too, Tsukumo." Izumo told her sister, who pouted.

"Cute kids. Mind if I see that picture?" The first girl asked. "Thanks. And no, I don't mind. It's in the duffel bag. Front pocket." Rin answered calmly.

The second girl put down her gun and searched said duffel bag. She pulled out a picture and started laughing. 

"O-ho my God, Marshal look at this!" She laughed, showing the picture to Marshal. "Oh my-How?! And why that picture of all the photos in the living room?!" Marshal groaned. "So that is you?" Rin deduced. 

"Wow. Small world." Shima commented. "Did y'all take anything else from the house?" Marshal wondered, lowering the gun some. "I mean, we took the dolls, but Barbie doesn't look like she used to." Shura admitted, nodding to Sachi's little backpack. "Yeah, uh, they modified all the dolls to make them look like our group and then you two, for whatever reason." Ryuji explained sheepishly. "Before I put this gun all the way down and let you inside, I got a few questions. Answer 'em right and I'll let ya stay." Marshal told them. "First, What are your names and where are y'all from?" She began.

"I'm Rin, that's my boyfriend Ryuji, our daughter Sachi, Torako, my brother Yukio, Izumo, her sister Tsukumo, Shura, Shiemi, Renzou and Kinzou are brothers, and that's Konekomeru." Rin introduced, pointing to each one. 

"Okay, so I'm guessing you're all from Japan?" The sister guessed. "How'd you know?" Renzou asked. "Anime." Both sisters answered in unison. Ryuji and Kinzou both snickered. "All that's left of our culture in the Apocalypse....." Ryuji muttered distatsefully. "Anime." Yukio whispered regretfully, Kinzou nodding sullenly beside him.

"Hah! Well, come on inside. I can make some sweet tea and we have some candy for the lil' ones." Marshal invited them in, finally. They gratefully went inside and sat on the furniture. Rin, Ryuji, Shima, and Kinzou sat on the floor so the others could all sit on furniture. 

"Aw, none of that now. The kids can sit on the floor, they have more meat on their bones than you do." Marshal sighed when she came in with the tea. 

Chelsea pulled out coloring books and crayons that had definitely seen better days and invited the little girls to sit on the floor around the coffee table and color with her. Rin slumped into the armchair the kids had been occupying and Izumo moved to let Ryuji drop into the comfy-looking rocking chair. "I sat around and did nothing but play dolls most of the time on the roof, so you can have the actual furniture now." She murmured to him. He smiled gratefully at her and her cheeks heated. 

Rin somehow felt the heat across the room even though it was only a small rush of hot blood to her cheeks. He felt heat start building in his chest and forced it back down. Now was not the time to burn like a nuclear reactor in front of his family and two strangers whose childhood home he'd stayed in once.

"Hmm, neglected love-triangle. Sounds about right in the Zombie Apocalypse. Nobody's got time to pay attention to much romance nowadays." Marshal commented on the interaction. She must have taken Rin's prolonged gaze at the two the wrong wat-he'd actually zoned out. Various snickers from around the room, a groan from Bon, more blushing from Izumo, and a nondescript hum from Rin were the responses to the callout. Rin was too tired to care much at the moment. 

Everyone thought Rin's tiredness was just because of him taking out all the zombies on their way to this place. They'd honestly just been looking for somewhere that could possibly be long-term for them-a place they could one day call Home. But he'd been having flare-ups more and more often in the past months. A couple times, he had to tell the group he was scouting ahead, run way ahead of them, and get his body temperature to calm down before returning to the group. It physically tired him out having to force the heat away.

"Marshal, what did I tell you about outing people's personal stuff?" Chelsea, the second girl, lilted. "They're gonna have to acknowledge their romance issues if they're gonna stay because I wanna know who's taken and who I can flirt with." Marshal threw back. "You don't hide anything, do you?" Shura pointed out. Marshal smirked. "Nope." She said, popping the 'p.' "And neither do you, pretty thing." Shura grinned and her cheeks tinted pink in pleasant surprise.

"So, Rin is your leader. How'd you all meet? Were you all already together when this started?" Chelsea changed the subject. 

"Ah well, Rin and I grew up in a monastery with our adopted father and six other priests in Tokyo. We were poor, so we were used to having to make do. We lost our father and Rin found him eating the priests when this whole thing hit, so he grabbed me and ran. We found a few other people and stuck with them for the first few months. We got good at surviving quick." Yukio began. He went on to explain about him getting overtaken by a hoard and supposedly being turned, but not really and then about the group dispersing when a hoard collapsed their base.

Rin picked it up from there and explained how it was being on his own. Miserable, Lonely, and Boring. "I was going through phases of the virus during that whole time." Yukio chimed in helpfully.

Ryuji told them about his Inn in Kyoto and how they stayed safe and cozy up on the mountain until a little after Rin came along. He told them about finding Rin in the middle of a huge hoard of Corpses, taking them down all around him. "I thought he was a god for a minute there." He laughed. Rin covered his face with his hands as it burned red at the compliment. "But, he started slowing down and those things weren't, so we went back to help him. Took down the rest of the crowd. Bon here goes to introduce himself to Rin and what does Rin do?" Kinzou took up the story. "Fuckin punched me in the gut!" Ryuji answered, still laughing.

Rin let out an amused chuckle. "I was alone for so long. Didn't really know how to react. Needed to be alone to think and I was actually sick during all of this-probably just a regular common cold or maybe from an infection that could've come from the gashes from the zombie bear-so I pulled a hit and run. Retreated to a building. But then their older sister started talking," He pointed to Shima and Kinzou. "And I came back out because she seemed a lot like a mom and I figured she would be the least likely to hurt me. Convinced me to go back with them to their little Safe Haven. Sounded too good to be true to me, but maybe my luck was just consistently shit before I met Mr. Lucky over here." He nodded at his boyfriend, who sputtered indignantly at the nickname. "I called you a god and this is what I get?!" He cried indignantly.

"It was nice. I recovered from the cold. For maybe a month, I helped out around the Inn. Got to know everyone, actually had friends for once. That was back when her folks were still with us. Back when all the servants and all the Shimas were alive except for the father. The little kids too. Good people." Rin's voice grew wistful as he looked down at Sachi.

"But, life isn't supposed to be easy and I must have cursed the whole damn Inn because a Radiation storm hit, complete with acid rain and orange clouds, both of which melt people like candles and make others very, very sick."

"I couldn't warn everyone in time and even the ones I could warn didn't listen. They all kept running back out into the storm to retrieve others and never came back. Happened to Sachi's Dad when he was trying to get the kids inside. Her mom got really sick along with most of the other survivors. Right before she went, her mother made me promise to raise her daughter to be strong and survive in this world. The rest of us left the Inn and picked up Shiemi there along the way. So that's our part." Rin finished.

"Jesus Christ, that just kept getting darker and then didn't get better at all." Marshal winced. Rin nodded with a shrug. "Pretty, much, yeah." 

Shura and Izumo explained what they'd been doing over that first year of the Apocalypse all the way up until Sasebo. Torako explained about the Wisconsin and how they spent about a year sailing to America.

Rin closed his eyes and eventually, all he could hear was their voices, not the actual words they were saying. A hush came over his tired mind and he was almost asleep when someone called his name. He barely twitched in reaction and they called his name again. Finally, Sachi called him and he blinked his eyes open. "Daddy!"

"Do you wanna go sleep in an a bed or are you fine with the chair for now? Your boyfriend is already out." Chelsea wondered politely. Rin nodded and closed his eyes again. He heard Marshal say something about letting them sleep until dinner was ready and then just murmurs of conversation from various people around the room before falling completely asleep.


	12. Twelve: Indian Jasmine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Indian Jasmine–Attachment

Several bad decisions led him to this point. Maybe some good, but mostly bad. But that was fine because Rin liked where his life was now. Somehow, things still ended up okay and Rin was grateful.

Rin and Izumo were on a supply run. Izumo rarely went on them even though she was one of their best fighters. They weren't actually looking for anything and both of them knew it. The Farm was nice. It was quiet. It was peaceful.

It was.....

Insanely boring. 

Rin was used to always being on the move, always working to make things work, always fighting or trying to look out for everyone in the group.

But damn, there was nothing to do on the farm. Milk the two cows, take turns riding the one wild horse that would probably get eaten by zombies sooner or later because of its freedom and dislike of the stables, and feed the hungry little piglets scraps of leftover food. Look around at the fences to make sure no zombies were trampling them, watch the kids play dolls, listen to Marshall belt out more American Rock songs that Rin had never heard. Ryuji loved Rock, especially American Rock, so he actually knew some of the songs she sang. Good for him, but Rin didn't know those songs. He knew American Pop, because he used to be a lot more laid back before the Apocalypse. Rin wondered if he'd ever make it back to being like he used to. 

Rin had developed a routine on the Farm where a good portion of his day was taken up by him training to use his katana and ax better and keeping his hand-to-hand skills sharp and hid flexibility on point. You could never be too prepared in the Apocalypse.

Izumo had found him doing so one day and decided to join him. She'd acquired a machete from the weapons stores in the town closest to the Farm. She practiced with her aim to throw it and also practiced fighting with the machete and her knife in hand-to-hand. It was a cool knife and had loops on the hilt for fingers to go through so it would be easier to hold onto the knife in a situation.

Shima and Shiemi said they were too tense, that they should relax some. 

Never relax in the Apocalypse. Obvious rule, Rin was a little disappointed that his group was getting so lazy. First place they can even try to call home in the near future and they all wanna slouch and laze about. Rin wondered if this was how his father felt when he refused to go to highschool. He wished Shiro a lot. Shiro wasn't the best dad, but he knew what to do in a lot of situations.

"It's good to relax some, but don't let your guard down so much that you forget the possibility of attack." Was something Shiro would say if he were with them. 

Rin felt like he and Izumo were the only ones that remembered there could still be humans that could hurt them in this world too. Rin had never forgotten and Izumo seemed like someone who's trust was hard to come by in the regular world, so he trusted her to take things as seriously as he did in the Apocalypse.

Now, Rin and Izumo were currently standing in a bar in a standoff. Rin's sword was pulled and pointed at one man and Izumo had her Machete pulled on the shorter guy.

"Woah, now! We don't want any trouble. Just Twinkies." The bigger guy said. He was tall, muscled, and wore a cowboy hat. He'd had two pistols, but Rin and Izumo pulled their weapons faster and now only the smaller guy was armed. To he fair, he had a double barrel shotgun, which would kill one of them easily and they'd be right to assume that the other would prioritize getting the injured one back to the farm.

"What the hell does that mean?!" Izumo demanded. "No, he's serious, he just wants a Twinkie. Have you seen any around town?" The smaller guy asked seriously, gun shaking in his grip. 

"No, but I saw some a couple towns back. Now scram." Rin gestured with his sword and the big man bent down slowly to pick up his pistols and they left quietly. 

"Do you have any idea what a Twinkie is?" Izumo turned to him when the two were out of sight. Rin shrugged, grinning. "Nope!" He cackled. Izumo smirked and they continued doing what they'd wanted to before the weird men showed up: collect the liquor left in the bar.

For both medical purposes and other ones.

They went to the furniture store and jumped all over the furniture, using old couches, chairs, and beds as trampolines. Rin and Izumo eventually ended up laying next to each other on the same bed. It had been stripped of the thick blanket that had been on the bed on the little display card, but still had some pillows and thinner blankets.

Rin sighed and smiled at Izumo, who–surprisingly–smiled back. It was a real smile–one that rarely showed up. 

"This is giving me some serious deja vu." Rin admitted. "Yeah, is this how you and Gorilla ended up when you went to look for supplies in that town back in that house with the honey shampoo?" Izumo smirked. Rin's cheeks burned even as he snickered. "So we're gonna call it the Honey Shampoo House?" He snorted. 

"Hey, it was memorable!" She protested. "Because your hair smelled good for a couple days?" Rin laughed as she playfully cuffed him on the shoulder. "But yeah, we did end up like this in that mostly secure furniture store. But with less clothes." Rin recalled honestly. Izumo wrinkled her nose, heat rising to her face and ears. 

Their faces were so close now. He glanced down at her lips and she did the same to him. "Tell Ryuji when we get back?" He murmured. "Yeah." And with that, they finally surged forward to share an intense kiss. It was vastly different from kissing Ryuji. 

Ryuji was the fire that fought back against Rin's own fire. Ryuji dominated Rin with his intensity, like all he could even think of was keeping Rin there with him. He kissed like every kiss was their last, but at the same time, their first.

Izumo kissed almost shyly. She was softer than Ryuji, but still a force to be reckoned with. She knew what she wanted and she was finally getting it. She demanded to have all of Rin's attention on her. She got bolder the more they kissed.

Rin hummed contentedly. He was in love with two very different people, but they had enough similarities to fit together like a three-piece puzzle if they had Rin keeping them together. Rin in between them. Rin could get used to this. He'd gone from being loveless in a society not made for him, to alone and always moving on in the End of the World, to having not one, but two people love him in the Beginning of the New World, along with a daughter and a woman who treated him like her own son. He had an actual big happy family now. 

Maybe things could stay like this? Society had started as a good thing and turned bad quickly. Maybe humanity wouldn't bounce back this time and things could be like this until they all grew old and died and left the world to Sachi and Tsukumo. Was it terrible to wish for that?

The two separated and shared overjoyed smiles. They left the furniture store hand in hand, ready to start a new chapter.


	13. Thirteen: Almond Blossom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almond Blossom–Hope, Lovers Charm
> 
> I think one of my favorite parts about writing this story is looking through my PDF of flower meanings to find what the chapter will be represented by 😄. Because of it, I have a thing about flowers now so if anyone gets me flowers(literally only my dad, either to console me or congratulate me for things)they have to pay attention to the meaning. My mother has learned that in flower language, yellow often has a negative meaning, but not always. I wouldn't let her get yellow tulips for our yard lol. Alright, enough of me blabbing, enjoy the story!

Rin and Izumo had double teamed Ryuji into training with them on some mornings. It was a nice dynamic. Rin used to hate fighting, but now, he had fun beating up and getting beat up by his boyfriend and his girlfriend. 

Rin and Izumo could team up to take Bon down because they had the upper had with smaller, faster bodies and more flexibility. Ryuji and Rin could take Izumo down by pissing her off and then pinning her. Ryuji and Izumo had yet to beat Rin because he was a weasel and could find a way out of their strategies. 

They knew that whenever they were able to pin him, he let them. But that was the fun of it: the teasing and flirting.

So, fighting with his two lovers got Rin hot and bothered, sue him. He was still young. Only nineteen this coming December. He'd turned eighteen on the Wisconsin. Sometimes he forgot that he wasn't already an adult and still had plenty of life left to live and have fun with.

Being a Leader, a boyfriend to two people, and a Dad was difficult to juggle, but it seemed that Shiemi had meant it when she said the group should be giving Rin his own downtime. She must have talked to them at some point and explained. He was grateful for that. It took some weight off his shoulders. His group had literally a bunch of adults and a forty-something year old. The only helpless ones should be the kids, the others needed to think for themselves more. 

Bon and Izumo helped him with leadering and making decisions more often. They helped him with the kids more and they did their best to take over and let Rin spend more time with his daughter. It was nice that they were stepping up.

Living on the farm was something Rin slowly settled into. He chopped firewood, trained with his weapons and hand-to-hand, learned how to milk the feisty cow that usually angrily mooed at anyone that came near her udders, hunted for meat in the woods, played dolls or pretend with the kids, and spent downtime with everyone over meals. Chelsea and Marshal seemed incredibly happy to share their home with the group. They'd been alone too long. Rin wondered why the women had trusted his group so easily. Maybe Marshal had the same way of telling who she could trust that Rin did. Rin had always had a good intuition about people and their loyalties. Marshal seemed to understand him on a different level then his group did. He wondered if it was because their personalities had a lot of similarities. 

Now, as he milked the angry cow, Rin could hear Marshal's clear voice singing some Fall Out Boy song. Chelsea's voice joined hers and they harmonized. Rin smiled. Sachi loved music. He used to sing to her on the Wisconsin. Rin's clear tenor voice and Sachi's pitchy, slightly off-key voice echoed in the halls of the ship when they'd been sailing. Rin had a wide arsenal of Disney songs to sing and teach his daughter, thankfully. 

The monastery took donations and that was where a majority of Rin and Yukio's belongings came from. Someone donated a bunch of old Disney VHS tapes in English and Rin had watched the hell out of them. He could quote several parts of Lady and the Tramp, the Aristocats, and The Little Mermaid. 

He'd also seen The Princess Bride several times because Shiro had loved it. Yukio had always thought the movie was stupid, but Rin's most cherished memories involved watching The Princess Bride with Shiro and saying the words with the characters when they said a famous line.

"You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." And then they'd both laugh and keep watching while Yukio rolled his eyes and went back to reading his book. 

Marshall had by now run out of Fall Out Boy songs to belt to the whole farm and switched to Lady and the Tramp. Rin snickered. It appeared she too had grown up with Disney.

He's a tramp, but I love him

Breaks a new heart every day

Rin smiled and automatically began to hum along with her as he milked the cow.

He's a tramp, they adore him

And I only hope he'll stay that way

Rin sung the words quietly to himself and in the doorway to the stable behind him, Ryuji stood silently with Sachi in his arms. They listened to Rin's quiet but clear voice blending with the girls. 

He's a tramp, he's a scoundrel

He's a rounder, he's a cad

Of course Kinzou, who was known for his American pop culture references, had to join in. He wasn't a bad singer, at least not tone-deaf. He blended well with the three already singing. What shocked them all was Izumo's voice filtering from a second floor bedroom window where she leaned out. It blended and balanced with everyone else's, but it also stood out. It was a pretty soprano sound. She could've played Snow White in a play, Rin mused to himself.

He's a tramp, but I love him

Yes, even I have got it pretty bad

"I'm trusting you with this next part, Rin!" Marshall called to him. She knew he liked Disney, curse it all. Rin sighed, but sang the next part as clearly as he could. 

You can never tell when he'll show up

He gives you plenty of trouble

I guess he's just a no 'count pup

But I wish that he were double

Izumo sang the next few lines with him, contrasting their voices just right. 

He's a tramp, he's a rover

And there's nothing more to say

If he's a tramp, he's a good one

Everyone else joined in for the last three lines.

And I wish that I could travel his way

Wish that I could travel his way

Wish that I could travel his way~

"Good job, y'all! That sounded lovely!" Marshall cheered while Chelsea shook her head in amusement. "Choir nerd!" She snorted, prompting a playful punch on the shoulder from her sister.

Rin laughed quietly as he stood to take the milk pales to the house, delivering a kiss to his boyfriends lips and his daughter's forehead on the way out after a playful glare for spying on him.

§~•~§~•~§

"I wish life could be more like Minecraft." Marshal sighed, picking apart her portion of cooked squirrel. "Yeah. You could just feed the animals hay and they'd make a baby. As long as you had two babies of each animal, you could kill the adults for meat and other stuff like leather and wool." Chelsea agreed. 

"That sounds ridiculously easy. Was it fun playing that game?" Rin wondered curiously. "I didn't like playing it by myself. I liked playing with other people. I'd make a world with someone and we'd either live together or go our separate ways and then visit to trade things. We'd go mining in the giant crevices that had lava, water, and a bunch of ore in them, but we'd have to find some way to get out if we didn't have enough resources for ladder. We'd plant crops in patches beside the house and fence in animals to raise, breed, and eat. We could add stuff to our house. It was fun creating things. It was like creating a life that we liked better for ourselves." Marshal explained, smiling. It was a wistful smile, but it was a happy one. 

"It was never my favorite game, but I had fun playing Minecraft with Marshal and her friends. And Call of Duty Zombies. My personal favorite was the Sonic Games though." Chelsea sighed. 

"Mph, yes! And I miss books! There's no authors to write anymore, so I'm stuck reading old stuff. Even Artemis Fowl and Heroes of Olympus gets old eventually. I do still have the rest of the Vampire Academy series to read though...." Marshal mused. "Please tell me you have books that aren't textbooks." Ryuji pleaded. "We have plenty. Marshal was a huge nerd before all this. She read all day long. Books and music was her thing. I liked reading, but not as much. I practiced on my flute while she read or did homework back then." Chelsea grinned. 

"Thank God! We're teaching the girls to read, but all we have is a couple textbooks. Sachi is pretty smart for a toddler, but I'd like her to have something she might enjoy more to read." Rin groused. "Oh good, I thought you were gonna ask to actually read them." Yukio sighed in relief. Rin shot him a half-hearted glare across the table and the younger twin just shrugged with a knowing smirk. 

"That was mean, Yuki!" Shiemi chimed in. "Nah, that's just sibling love. You're not siblings if you don't give each other crap about things that don't matter." Marshal amended. 

"It's the truth, actually. I dropped out of school after middle school. Didn't even start highschool. I was working at a family restaurant when this all went down. I was never very good at academics. Other kids didn't like me for some unknown reason and always wanted to jump me. So I started getting into fights around five and never stopped until this all came along. I loved people, people did not love me. Except the staff and patrons from the restaurant I worked at." Rin shrugged. 

Ryuji frowned. "You've never really talked about what your life was like before all this." He noticed interestedly. "That's because there's not much to tell. We grew up in a poor Monastery in Southern Cross, Tokyo. It was in the slums of the city, next to the red-light district. It was all poor, homeless, gangs, and orphans. The only rich people that hung around were the spoiled rich brats trying to be gangsters." Rin began. 

"Of course, that was a little hard when they all fell at my hands. Usually my fists, really. But it wasn't like I wanted to fight them. They came to me because they needed to prove their dominance and no matter how many times they came back, they just left with more bruises. I was undefeatable. Dad and Yukio always gave me shit for it, like I was instigating, but they never listened to me in the first place since I was little, so....." Rin's eyes slid over to Yukio smugly. If everyone wanted his backstory, they'd get Yukio's too since they'd grown up together. His twin scowled at him, not liking his jab backfiring on him, but knowing there was nothing he could do about it now. 

"Yukio was Mr. Perfect, all A's, top of the class, in shape, good-looking, nice golden boy. I was the Screw-Up. Always fighting, bad at academics, ADHD, sarcastic, Authority Issues. He turned it around on me as we grew up–I spent my whole life being compared to him and being either ignored or bullied. So, I dropped outta school and got a job. I was saving up to move out so I could be a person that wasn't just there to be compared to someone better." He continued. 

"And I never would've come back." He was looking directly into Yukio's eyes and Yukio wasn't a pussy, so he'd keep looking back until Rin looked away. "I would've made a life for myself that I didn't hate living. Everybody commented on how laid-back and nice I seemed. It's not that I wasn't those things, I just didn't like that people forced me to be the opposite of those whenever they tried to jump me on the streets for literally no valid reason."

He looked away from Yukio and met his boyfriend's eyes. "Then all this hit. I'm not a scumbag, so I grabbed my little brother and found somewhere safe. Dad was already turned and munching on the clergymen, otherwise I woulda brought them too. Yukio went down under a horde early on, I was pulled away, our remaining group got overwhelmed and split up, and then I was on my own. It sucked for a long time. I got used to being alone. It was nice for a while–no one was around to hurt me but the dead and it was quiet all around." He admitted.

"I learned how to handle this wicked sword and I could fend for myself without worrying about anyone else. I could be as stupid and reckless as I wanted and get away with it because no one was holding me back. After a while, though, it got lonely. I'd hold whole conversations with myself over the stupidest things, it was nutty." He chuckled at the memories. "The world was so empty. So easy. All I had to do was look for food, water, and make sure I didn't get eaten by walking corpses. In the silence, you could always hear them coming. I was safe." 

Ryuji reached out and intertwined their fingers on the table and Rin smiled. "I grew up being nothing and now I have more than I ever thought I would. So, I don't really mind living in the Apocalypse." Ryuji grinned, pressing a kiss to his lover's knuckles. Izumo watched them with a smile, loving to see her boyfriends being cute and romantic. Sachi giggled cheerfully from Shiemi's lap across the table.

"Ugh, we get it, you're disgustingly in love and have a huge family. Stop rubbing it in." Shima groaned dramatically. Konekomeru smacked him on the shoulder lightly and he laughed. Marshal was also grinning. 

"I had two friends and one of them wasn't even really my friend, he was the girl's boyfriend that I couldn't stand because he was a huge idiot with no common sense. Only reason I tolerated him was because she loved him." Marshal snorted. "Dad always told me that maybe if I was nicer and not so terrible, I could finally get a boyfriend. I told him girls didn't seem to mind my personality." 

Kinzou almost spit his drink and Yukio patted him on the back while he coughed and laughed at the same time. "Yeah, we got along a lot better after he took his time to accept that. I think he found it easier to have a more boyish daughter along with the girly one. I was friends with all the guys and dated a couple of em. Dated a trans guy and the same girl twice. I stole a girl from the trans ex. Then she became a trans guy." Marshal explained her dating history. "I think I just didn't do well with dating guys because I was raised to always kick a kidnapper in the balls and stay away from creepy looking men anywhere I went. No one ever said punch the kidnapper in the tits or scream that the lady that grabbed me wasn't my mother. It was always men. Probably formed some kinda complex that kept me from being comfortable with dating guys." She shrugged it off, like it didn't bother her at all. Rin admired that. Marshal had a level of chill he could only ever dream of achieving. She knew how to truly just go with the flow. 

"I wasn't scared of guys at all and it pissed my sister off a lot because I dated douchebags. She literally told me to send the guys to KFC because all they wanted was my body and I'm a Lady, not a value menu." Chelsea recalled. Marshal had that satisfied grin on her face that said she regretted nothing. Chelsea shook her head and continued eating while Marshal snickered. 

"Heh, Ryuji asked me when he was getting a younger sister from the time he could talk to six years old. He always said he'd protect her and keep boys away." Torako began. "God, please no, Mom." Bon hid his face in his hands, already knowing where this story was going. Rin leaned forward, now very interested in the story. Izumo looked invested as well at Bon's reaction. 

"I said 'Well, what if she likes girls?' and he thought really hard about his answer. He was a small child, it was very entertaining to see him so concentrated on something for more than two minutes. His answer was to just beat up anyone that wanted to be with his sister." Torako was chuckling now and Bon's ears were red as strawberries. 

"I told him that most people saw hitting a girl as unfair and he told me that Equality had yet to be achieved and we couldn't expect God to do all the work." She kept going. Rin burst into loud laughter. "Why's that part so funny?" Izumo wondered. "They were Buddhist, Izumo." He cackled and she let out a snort of laughter. The whole table was laughing at this point. 

"I've punched a girl and defended it with equality before." Rin admitted once he could breathe again. "Rin!" Yukio looked at him incredulously. "Samantha was a bitch, okay! I don't know what she thought she was doing, but in Japan, we don't take the shit she was giving us." Rin told him defensively. 

"So, when she tried to establish her dominance over this poor guy who's probably been bullied his entire life by girls, I stepped in. She slapped me across the face, called me a lowlife, and threatened to sue me with Daddy's money. And then I swung a right hook and broke her jaw so she'd shut up. Everyone around us thought I was some kinda demon for both hitting a girl and breaking a person's jaw in one punch, but that kid left me a thank you note on my desk and gave me chocolates on Valentine's Day. Worth it. Oh, and Samantha transferred to a different school without even getting me in trouble because the principal agreed that it was both self-defense and equality." 

"That's the equality I want–being able to punch whoever's being an ass regardless of gender. If you're being shitty, you deserve it." Marshal agreed. "Yes!" Rin high-fived her abd Yukio only sighed.

They enjoyed the rest of dinner, then sat in the living room and just talked about the differences between growing up in Japan vs growing up in America. When it was time for bed, Rin and Ryuji tucked the girls in. Rin tucked the blankets around the little bodies and kissed them both on the head. Sachi smiled and reached out. Rin handed her the stuffed bunny Marshal gave her. She'd said it belonged to a man that had been like a big brother to her once and he'd loved it so much that it was nearly ratty. Marshal gave it to Sachi with a fond smile.

"He never named the old thing–just called it Bunny. I'm trusting you to keep it close, okay? I know you'll love Bunny just as much as he did." And Sachi did. She hugged it close every night and carried it around all day unless she went to play and knew she'd get dirty. There was a faraway look in Marshal's eyes when she saw the toddler carrying it around with her everywhere and Rin knew she was remembering the man Bunny had once belonged to. He didn't ask, and she seemed to appreciate it.

Rin was happy Sachi had something to love like Bunny. Tsukumo seemed to not care for it, but Sachi wanted things to hold onto. Every kid should have something like a toy or stuffed animal that was precious to them, even in the Apocalypse. 

He blew out the candle illuminating the room and went to get in bed with Ryuji and Izumo. Rin always slept on his side, face tucked into Ryuji's chest, legs tangled with Ryuji's. Izumo actually slept behind Ryuji, spooning him, which was endlessly entertaining to Rin. Rin was glad they could get along with each other well enough, though he knew that they didn't love each other like they loved Rin. If Rin ever left them, they most likely wouldn't last together. Rin hoped that would never happen as he cuddled further into Ryuji's warm and secure embrace.

He fell asleep easily, lulled by the sounds of soft breathing and the occasional creak of the old farmhouse.


	14. Fourteen: Dragon Lily

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dragon Lily–Inner Power
> 
> Things start to get funky up in this house.

He was out hunting when the now-familiar heat rose in his chest. Thank God it was while he was alone and not around the others. He didn't want to accidentally burn anyone and then have to explain this had been happening for a while and he hadn't told them.

Rin wanted to master this issue before telling his family if he could. He'd only gotten better at suppressing it though.....

Marshal had looted an old Hunting Store in town and got a few useful things, including a bow and some arrows. There weren't very many arrows, do they had to keep reusing them, but that wasn't a problem if they used it to hunt. They'd had to learn how to shoot and hit their target first. Rin and Yukio could both shoot arrows pretty good with a little practice. Rin had great eyesight and so did Yukio. Yukio only needed glasses for a slight stigmatism in both eyes. He could see fine without them. Shura preferred spears, but knew how to shoot well with bow and arrows due to her time with the Amazon Women. 

Rin had nailed a few squirrels and had them hanging from his belt as he trudged across and open field when the heat rose again. It took him by surprise and a pounding headache came out if nowhere with it. Was this because he'd forced it down so much over and over again? God, Rin's head felt like an elephant was tap dancing on it. 

He fell to his knees, holding his head and sitting still. He clenched his eyes shut and tried to breathe calmly. It took a while, but the headache receded enough for him to open his eyes and let them adapt to the brightness of the blazing North Carolina sun again. He blinked and just did his best to breathe and and feel the heat simmering under his skin. He took a deep breath and released it. And with that breath, he released the heat from his body. It was so hot that it made a visible distortion in the air–a heat wave. 

Of course, while he'd been down, a few corpses had creeped up on his and he had to dodge one that lunged for him. He pulled his katana and sliced the thing in half diagonally. The next one pretty much tried to fall on him but it it's too half fell on Rin. He'd redirected it's too half with his sword to fall beside him. The last one tried to take a bite out of him, but it couldn't rip through the thick leather of his jacket with it's brittle teeth. He'd gotten lucky this time. Rin sliced it and it fell to the ground.

He stood, ready to bring dinner home to the farm, but it was then he realized that a lot of dead were just laying there in the field, waiting for a meal to walk by or step on them unknowingly. So that was why Marshal had said she never walked through open fields....

Wonderful. It thankfully wasn't a huge mob like the one that had surrounded him right before Ryuji and his people had found him, but it was still a handful to keep spinning around to watch his own back constantly. Rin slashed and sliced and diced and swung around and spun and dodged. He settled into the routine movements and was glad he'd kept training with the sword all this time. 

Another Zombie managed to chomp him, but it got his foot and couldn't bite through the thick military combat boots he still wore. He stabbed it through the head and it lay limp at his feet. Rin hadn't noticed, but he was putting off more and more heat as he fought, creating a wall of heat that was melting the rotting flesh off the skills of the corpses. It was a disgusting sight, but it held them off for a good while. 

Finally, more had joined the group and it was turning into a mob and Rin wasn't dealing with that chaos. He didn't know why, but Rin stabbed his sword into the ground in front of him and screamed, forcing the festering heat in him outwards. 

The wave of raw heat melted whatever flesh was left on all of the dead around him and their crispy bones fell to the ground with only scraps of rotted muscle left on them. He panted, muscles suddenly feeling like jelly. It was such a simple move, but Rin felt like he'd just run five kilometers without stopping. He groaned and fell to a knee, leaning on his sword. 

He didn't even want to question what exactly the heat was or where it came from or how he could produce it. The easiest answer he could come up with? When the apocalypse started, nuclear power plants probably didn't all get to shut down right or got raided by the dead. The resulting leaking radiation would've traveled to the already-smog filled Tokyo. And Tokyo had had a lot of radiation storms. They were fewer with cities the farther away he traveled. Kyoto had that one that took out most of the Ryokan residents and Ryuji said he'd never seen a radiation storm. Rin could blame whatever freaky stuff was happening to him on radiation and move on with his life because life was too short to question things like that. 

He took a long time to get his breath and energy back. He ate one of the pieces of squirrel jerky Chelsea had made for when anyone was away from the farm and away from any immediate and easy source of food. By the time he stood back up and sheathed his katana, the sun was slowly being covered by thick clouds. Rin looked up at the sky and cursed. It looked like it might start raining. The wind was picking up a little too. It was at this time he wished that wild horse would turn up so he could get home faster, but he stood and started running.


	15. Fifteen: Bird of Paradise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bird of Paradise–Magnificence

Rain pelted his body and Rin was glad for his thick leather jacket. North Carolina Summer was hot and humid, but wearing thick materials was how one prevented Zombies from biting through skin. By now, unless they were newly turned, the walking corpses couldn't bite through thicker materials with their rotting, brittle teeth. 

That, and Rin didn't need to deal with skin cancer on top of living in the Zombie Apocalypse with his ragtag family, so he covered up most of his body. Thankfully, his coat also had thin fluff lining it on the inside and kept his body heat in when he zipped it up. Wind whipped at him, picking up speed the longer he ran. Unfortunately, The farm was in the opposite direction the wind was blowing, so he was practically fighting the storm. It seemed intent on pushing him back.

Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning flashed above him. Running against the wind was like running through water–nearly impossible and you felt like you were walking in slow motion. He pushed forward, bracing an arm in front of his eyes so he wouldn't get dirt blown into them. Rolling black clouds sprawled across the sky above him and the grass was flattened by the winds. 

Rin turned around just out of curiosity, only to stop dead in his tracks in shock. 

A swirl of clouds slowly descended to the ground as he looked on in horrified fascination at the terrifying magnificence of the scene before him. The swirling clouds connected with the North Carolina terrain. Rin's mouth dropped open as he watched it effortlessly expand and rip trees out of the ground, roots and all. Lightning crackled and set one tree on fire, but Rin didn't see what became of it as it was swept into the strong winds. He turned and ran against the winds as hard as he could. The tornado's screaming got closer and he ran faster, pushing himself. 

The harsh winds stole every breath from him as he ran and he was gasping for air, lungs aching as he pushed his body to it's limits trying to escape the storm. The rain came down harder and no matter how tight he pulled his jacket around him, the cold sunk into his skin, his muscles, his bones. The rain drops got into his eyes and he desperately wiped them away. The winds howled and he screamed with it, like that would make all of this chaos stop. 

The tornado growled menacingly, tearing up trees, old power lines with no electric running through them, and a small shack that must have been some hermit's escape from society. Rin was shivering so hard that he swore his bones must have been rattling. 

He ran and ran for what felt like hours, but could have been mere minutes, not stopping to look back anymore. Lightning struck, cracking across the sky like a glowing whip. The wind howled in his ears and it was all he could hear. It felt monotonous after a while. The cold felt monotonous after a while. 

Somehow, Rin found himself in a building. It seemed to have been a house at some point. All the furniture was overturned and blood splattered across the walls in a grotesque splash of color on the white drywall. He sat down heavily in a corner, his soaked clothes weighing heavily on his frame.

Rin didn't bother to take the wet clothes off to prevent hypothermia, instead tucking into himself, and settling down to wait out the storm in that corner. 


	16. Sixteen: Rhododendron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rhododendron–Danger, Beware
> 
> !!WARNING!! Rape. It isn't detailed, but it happens. Also, mild torture.

Rin woke up in an unfamiliar place. It was moving and when he looked up, he could see trees blurring by through a dirty window. A vehicle? His group only had one truck that they'd been stocking up on gas for. This wasn't that truck and the four unknown men sitting around him confirmed that even further.

He went to wipe the grit from his eyes after sleeping so long and found his hands bound together by thick ropes. He stopped and assessed the situation–he felt shaky and still tired and his feet were also bound by ropes. They'd taken his boots, his jacket, and his shirt. One guy was rummaging through the small bag he'd brought with him when he went hunting. Another was examining his katana while the third and fourth guys were talking about how nice and sharp his ax was. 

In a second, Rin pulled his legs up so he was nearly folded in half. He rocked upward and got to his knees. One guy tried to grab him and got headbutted. It hurt, but it gave him the advantage he needed.

He elbowed the guy with his sword in the nose and somehow was able to grasp the hilt with his elbows, swinging it so the blade was pointed at the other two guys. He squatted at the back doors of the vehicle and held the sword like that for a moment before getting steadily into a good enough crouch to jam his back into the doors and tumble out the back of the vehicle. He quickly let go of the sword as he tumbled. 

He stopped rolling, scrambled to his feet, grabbed his katana, swing it down to saw at the ropes around his ankles, jumped up, and started running the opposite way of the vehicle. Rin's vision tilted and he cursed his luck. He wasn't at 100% because of the storm he'd gotten caught in after his meltdown(ha), so he wasn't steady on his feet. Still, he ran as far as he could. 

Unfortunately for him, he soon figured out he was outnumbered in very unfair odds as a knife stuck in the back of his thigh and he fell to the dirt. He gritted his teeth as the knife was yanked out of his leg and he was rolled over to face the sky and the assholes kidnapping him. "I can't believe I actually stuck him!" One marveled, seeming very proud of himself. "You can stick that knife up your dick, fuckhole!" Rin snarled in Japanese. "Ooh, Oriental! Shoulda figured something as pretty as you would know how to get away from guys like us." Another man chuckled. Before Rin could retort, something solid hot him in the temple and he blacked out again. 

When he woke up, he was back in the vehicle. Again, he got ahold of the katana and just as he did, the vehicle stopped, braking hard. Rin pitched forward and the hilt was jammed into his stomach while the blade sliced across and through the first guy's stomach, up into his diaphragm and out his back. 

Rin laid there, gasping for air and now covered in fresh blood as the back doors opened. The two guys that had been in front weren't even alarmed at their dying friend. One actually laughed and said something about getting bested by a pretty Oriental boy with his hands and feet tied up. 

Then, he was yanked out and the blunt end of a gun hit his head, effectively knocking him out again. Rin's last thought was that he might sustain brain damage from all these injuries he sustained within such a short time.

§~•~§~•~§

"I'm sure he's fine! It was a big storm, he probably just fell asleep somewhere to wait it out! I'll go check for him, maybe he scored a deer and is just taking a while to haul it back." Marshal told her sister. Chelsea looked worried, but nodded. "Okay. Just be really careful. I know there's no power in the power lines anymore, but there are still plenty of bad consequences from storms like that, not counting the displaced walking corpses that ended up on our lawn." She told her twin firmly.

"I will. I know how to be careful, Chel, I promise! See y'all in a little bit!" Marshal called as she left. Everyone called good-byes back and then carried on with what they were doing. But Chelsea had a bad feeling about this. 

It twisted in her gut and kept her from eating any breakfast and barely any lunch as the day wore on and everyone did their daily chores. 

§~•~§~•~§

Rin woke up tied to a tree near a campfire. He was still so tired. He couldn't figure out why until he remembered that the last thing he'd eaten was a piece of squirrel jerky right before the storm. He had no idea how long it had been since the storm and figured his captors would at least tell him that if he asked. 

"How long?" He croaked. His throat was sore and uncomfortably dry. "What was that?" One responded. "How long since the storm?" Rin repeated louder. "It's been a day. Why? You got someone to get back to?" Another answered, smiling lecherously. "I need food." Rin told them. "Oh yeah. Gotta feed the pet." The first guy said. He took a skewer off the spit over the fire. The meat was burnt and none of the other guys wanted it. Rin counted nine of them sitting around the fire. 

The man held it up to his face and Rin just went with it. He'd make them underestimate him until he got himself out of this. If he acted submissive, they'd think he was just a little feisty from the incident in the car. 

"Hey....what happened to the guy that got stabbed with the sword? I don't see him....." Rin asked quietly. "Oh, he didn't make it. He told me to give you this, though." The man delivered a hard slap across Rin's face and he forced tears to well up in his eyes. "I didn't mean to kill anyone. The driver braked and I fell forward. I didn't wanna kill anybody...." He swallowed, sniffling. 

"Oh God, he's a cryer. Can we take him back?" The guy cooking the food groaned. "No, I think his voice sounds pretty. I think we should keep him around for entertainment if he's such a baby about killing people. He had that badass sword and that sharp-ass axe and a few squirrels on him when we found him. But if we let him loose to hunt for us, he'll definitely run." The man who'd slapped Rin argued. 

He was tall and bulky. He had tattoos on one shoulder and one on the side of his neck. His eyes were a light blue-green. His face was angular and his jaw was sharp. He looked like he could be a famous American actor. Or a model, except for.tye fact that he was dirty, his hair was a great mess, and he smelled like sweat and rotting corpses.

Rin hated him instantly. 

"I bet he apologizes to the squirrels before he kills them too." The guy roasting the food snickered. A round of raucous laughter rang out into the woods. "Hey, why don't you keep talking, huh? Your voice sounds nice. Or maybe you could sing for us? Eh, Little Birdie?" The man in front of him requested. Rin frowned and looked away. "Aww, don't be like that. Rico didn't mean to hurt your feelings, promise." The man lifted Rin's chin with his index finger. 

"I'm Mathias. And if you just do what we say, you won't get your feelings hurt, okay? Now, here's some water. So keep talking, okay?" He let Rin take a few sips of water–not nearly enough–from a metal mug. 

"Why did you take me? I wasn't bothering you...." Rin wondered sadly. "Oh, we don't have anything against ya, Birdie. See, we saw you sleepin' in that old house and there was a few walkers creepin' up on ya. We saved ya and when we saw that pretty face, we decided you'd be better off with us." Rico explained. "It's still kidnapping, you know." Rin muttered, pouting. 

"Aw, look at that pouty face, boys! That's adorable! That's exactly the reason we took you." Mathias told him, stroking his cheek fondly. "Are you gonna keep me tied up forever, then?" Rin asked. "We'll untie you when we can trust you, Birdie. You don't wanna be here right now, so we're keeping you restrained. Make sense?" Mathias explained. Rin sighed and nodded. 

"Yeah, you're a wild spirit. You probably feed the deer instead of killing them when you find them, don't you? You're like snow white, little Birdie." Rico chuckled. He retreated to the fire and ate with his buddies. They left Rin alone the rest of that night.

Rin fell asleep standing up, tied tight to the large tree. Hopefully his family would find him soon enough before things got bad in this camp. The last time he'd been captured by people, it was Reiji and his gang and he'd lost a lot more than just his dignity.

§~•~§~•~§

Two days later, Rin woke up from another night sleeping upright against his tree and saw a familiar face laying on Mathias's matress diagonally across from his tree. Her wrists were tied together and to the tree trunk that gave the "bed" shade during the day. Her clothes were ripped and bloodied some. Her left eye was bruising and her bottom lip was split. A trail of blood ran from her nose, but it didn't look broken, thankfully. 

He looked around and noticed the men weren't paying attention to them. 

"Marshal?" He whispered. She blinked her eyes open and smiled at him regretfully. "Hey, Fearless Leader. I was looking for you. Instead, I got those pansies." She nodded at the men. Rin sighed. This was getting way too similar to the time with Reiji. Then, it was him, Yukio, Rocco, and that poor little girl. Now, it was Rin and Marshal. If they got ahold of anyone else, things were gonna get messy fast.

"I'm sorry." He told her hoarsely. He knew what they'd do with Marshal. In the two days he'd been held captive, they'd switched between doing three things–talking about wanting to bang some pretty women, cutting Rin up in random places on his body because they liked to hear his screams, and going out hunting. Real tears were coming to his eyes now. 

"I shoulda been more careful. I thought no one else even still lived in this area. I got reckless. Don't blame yourself for my bullshit or I'll fight you, got it?" She demanded. Rin let out a wet laugh, smiling. It was the first time he'd smiled in a while. 

"Oh, you two laughing it up over here? Did ya get her name while you were talkin, Birdie?" Rico had made his way over to them. "No. But she's a lot funnier than Markus." Rin answered. Rico threw his head back and laughed. "Nice. But, uh, her purpose is gonna be different than yours, Little Birdie. See, we're gonna feed her some good food, clean water, make sure she's nice and healthy and then Matt is gonna keep her as his Queen. You're just the entertainment for.now, but one of us might get you as a gift soon. So maybe you should take notes from her, eh?" Rico had that same nasty grin that he always did. Rin nodded meekly and dropped his head. 

"Good little Birdie." Rico whispered to him before going back to the men. 

§~•~§~•~§

Two more days before Marshal spent the night screaming bloody murder as she was assaulted on that cursed matress and Rin sobbed the whole night. He knew exactly how it felt and all he could do was stand there and watch. His body hurt from both so much rope burn and so many cuts everywhere on his body, but it would never hurt more than what Marshal had to go through. 

He sobbed and sobbed and struggled in his ropes and hoped someone found them soon. As much as he tried, the men didn't feed him enough or let him drink enough water for him to somehow break free of the ropes. Even his Heat Powers wouldn't come when he needed them, probably because he was too weak. Would they even do anything if he was able to get them to work? It was heat, not fire. He supposed if the ropes were dey enough, they'd catch fire, but even that was a slim chance.

As for his struggling loosening the ropes, the men tightened them every morning, intentionally making sure they'd rub his bare skin and give him patches of raw skin.

Rin watched Matthias take and take and take all night long for a few nights. He watched Marshal do her best to be strong, even with blood on the matress and tears spilling down her face. She bit at Mathias, spat insults, and struggled no matter how many times he hit her for it. And Rin was proud to know her. Marshal would never just let something like this happen. She'd keep fighting until her last breath. 

Rin prayed to whoever was up there that someone found them and reached them before another night of terror befell Marshal on that matress. It didn't matter if they couldn't rescue him, he just needed Marshal to be safe. Sachi had a Mom and another Dad. Rin hated breaking promises, but this world was cruel. He was glad he had Ryuji and Izumo to take care of his family even if he was gone. 


	17. Seventeen: Rhododendron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rhododendron–I am dangerous

Ryuji was out hunting in the woods farther from the farm than usual. He didn't know why, but something was telling him he should be there. He got lucky and caught two decently chubby rabbits, along with some squirrels and four bird eggs he found in a nest when he was climbing a tree to retrieve one of the squirrels. 

As he was heading back to the main road, he heard it. 

Screaming. 

Not just any screaming–he'd heard that scream before. He'd heard it when he played a game of Tag with the group(minus the little ones and Torako)and he'd tackle Rin to the ground in a last ditch effort to not be It. Rin would shriek in surprise and then laugh loudly in his ear. He'd heard it when that one feisty cow almost projectile pooped on Rin. He'd heard it when that wild horse nearly bucked Rin off the first time he'd tried to ride the equine. 

Ryuji tore through the forest without a second thought. When he got closer to the screams, he slowed down. There must have been several people that were holding his boyfriend captive. Rin could take down three people at once as long as they were predictable enough. There had to be at least more than three. 

Ryuji hid behind trees and bushes as he got closer to what appeared to be a campsite. He was able to find an angle where he could see not just Rin, but their other missing family member too. Kinzou and Renzou were actually out looking for Rin and Marshal, but Ryuji was glad he'd been the one to find them. He was better for coming up with plans in minimal time. Rin was the one who made plans on the spot.

Marshal was laying still on a matress at the base of a tree she was tied to by her hands. She was completely naked and had several painful-looking injuries. Her right eye was bruised, her bottom lip was split, there were bruises all over her body, but the worst bruises were around her hips. And there were several bodily fluids leaking from her onto the stained matress. She looked sad and worn out. Whenever she blinked, it took longer and longer for her to open her eyes again. It took everything in Ryuji not to just charge the men at the sight of the obviously heavily assaulted woman. 

As for said men, they were all gathered around Rin, who was tied to a tree almost naked and had rope burn and cuts everywhere. One man had a small paring knife and kept cutting into Rin slowly and deliberately wherever he pleased. Rin looked like Marshal did–far beyond tears and just worn out. He looked done. Blood stained his ripped up jeans, his boots were gone, and so was his jacket and shirt. His hair was down in tangled tresses and looked more brown and red than white. Whenever he kept his eyes closed too long, the man reopened old cuts and cut them deeper.

Rin's sword laid in a pile of weapons that were left by the van parked close to the camp. Marshal's gun also laid in that same pile.

Ryuji thought about his options. He could run forward, grab a gun from the pile, and shoot all the guys surrounding his boyfriend, then free Marshal and Rin and take them back to the farm. 

But he didn't know if any of those guns had ammo. Did any of them have bullets in them? Did the men keep them empty until they needed the firearms? Had they empties Marshal's shotgun when they abducted her? He could end up running in and grabbing an empty gun and then he'd just get killed and Rin and Marshal would keep on suffering until someone else found them. He didn't know if he could trust a plan like that. 

But he did know that both the shotgun and the handgun he had in the car that had just enough gas to get to this forest and close to the farm were both fully loaded. And he had knives as backup. 

"Just hold on a little longer, I'll get you both out." He murmured quietly as he turned tail and made his way back to the car.

§~•~§~•~§

Marshal would never forget the day she watched Ryuji Suguro run into this cursed camp guns a-blazin. It was the most glorious sight she'd ever seen, even if neither she nor Rin really registered what was happening right away. 

When they did, they yelled. They cheered him on and they sobbed. They sobbed in relief and joy. Their voices were hoarse from screaming and they had barely any energy to do anything, but they cheered and cried for their savior. And when he was about to put Mathias out of his misery, Rin stopped him. 

"Wait!" Ryuji stopped obediently, looking at Rin in question. "Marshal gets that thing. She deserves it. Leave him be for now." He said. Marshal had never wanted to kiss a man so much in her life. She sobed for Rin too then and for the fact that she noticed neither Rin nor Ryuji were looking anywhere but her face. She was so incredibly happy their group had found her and Chelsea.

Ryuji untied Marshal first, because he knew how to treat a lady and it was what Rin would want anyways. He helped her sit up and tucked her against him gently. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm sorry it took so long. This place is pretty big." He muttered to her quietly. She laughed. "Yeah, it is. Used to love exploring it when I was little." She said. "What do you mean 'was?'" Ryuji asked seriously and she laughed harder. "You're mean!" She complained playfully. He laughed and wrapped her up in his jacket. "Here, can you stand?" He helped her stand up and she cringed. "There's some water in the car I used to get here." He promised. She nodded and leaned on the tree next to her while he untied Rin. The boy fell forward instantly. 

"S-sorry. I haven't been able to feel my arms and legs in a while. Jus–Just gimme a minute." He mumbled, words slurred and barely put together in a coherent sentence. Ryuji very carefully wrapped Rin's jacket around him–his jacket and boots had been sitting in the cab of the van–and put his socks and boots back on, lacing them up for him.

Marshal dragged Mathias by his jacket to a tree. She heaved him up in an impressive show of strength for an abused, exhausted, and half-starved 5'5 woman, and shoved a knife into both of his shoulders. She then shoved a knife in each foot. She cut open his pants and straight up castrated the man, cutting off his whole package. Rin and Ryuji cringed away. Then, just in case his screams didn't attract the dead, Marshal got into the van, turned it on, and honked the horn several times before the car sputtered out of gas.

They didn't leave until they heard shuffling and groaning. Mathias begged for them to save him, saying he was sorry and not ready to die over and over again. The words fell on deaf ears.

Ryuji managed to maneuver Rin onto his back like a piggy back ride and then got Marshal into his arms bridal- style. He carried them to the car without complaint and both boys turned away while Marshal cleaned herself up with the water bottles she'd been given. 

Then they rode most of the way to the farm in the janky car and Ryuji carried them the rest of the way home.

§~•~§~•~§

Chelsea tended to her twin while Ryuji and Izumo tended to Rin once they'd returned. 

Marshal used a rag and soap to wash off. She washed her hair and then spent two hours in the bathroom cutting it by candlelight. She ended up using a razor and scissors to give herself a clean undercut. She left the hair at her temples and up. 

"Better?" Chelsea asked from the doorway. "That asshole liked to grab me by the hair and mount me like some bitch. I cut off all the hair he touched." She responded fiercely. Chelsea smiled approvingly. "That's my Marshal." She said fondly, opening her arms. Marshal put down the scissors and rushed into them.

"I don't have any tears left to cry, Chelsea." She choked out. "That's okay. You don't drink enough water." Chelsea replied. Marshal let out a wet laugh at the inside joke and let her sister pull her into her bed and pull the covers over them. "I'll be the strong one for now. You just go to sleep, okay?" Chelsea suggested. She began singing all the songs she remembered listening to as a little girl with her sister and their parents in the car on the way to swim in the local lake during Summer.

Taylor Swift would always hold a special place in their hearts. Chelsea started with Mine and went through the whole Sparks Fly album until Marshal was finally sleeping next to her. Chelsea snickered at the fact that her twin had stayed awake until Mean. She'd made herself stay awake until her favorite song on the album, sang along with it, then fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Izumo and Ryuji helped Rin wash off in the basin Chelsea had filled with water the day before in case they found Rin and Marshal. His hair was finally back to it's bright white color, silky locks laying across his shoulders and down his back. There wasn't much they could do for the rope burn and cuts but clean them and hope they didn't get infected. 

Rin couldn't have a blanket on because of the very irritated rope burn, so the triad elected to just sleep with no blanket. Rin couldn't cuddle either, but he held Ryuji and Izumo's hands the whole night, falling asleep to Chelsea's faint singing from the room across the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used myself as a base for Marshal's character and I put some particular references to my own life in her memories, though she is a totally different person from me. Chelsea is modeled after my bestest friend in the world that I grew up with(she was my only friend growing up), and people always asked us if we were twins because we looked alike. 
> 
> These characters are totally different people than my friend and I, but it is nice referencing parts of my life in a story that people enjoy and seeing how they react to the characters.


	18. Eighteen: Azalea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azalea–Take care of yourself for me

A few days after Ryuji brought Rin and Marshal home, the two were still on bed rest and therefore figured they might as well take over teaching Sachi and Tsukumo and cooking meals since they weren't allowed to do anything else. 

Ryuji had gone back to see several sets of remains and grabbed Rin and Marshal's weapons from the camp.

Everyone kept an eye on the two, but they knew how to handle themselves. And the first chance she got when it was just Rin and Marshal alone, she kissed him on the lips. It was just a small peck. "You cried even more than I did when that shitkicker raped me. And you left him for me to get revenge on. Thank you, Rin." She thanked. Rin smiled, even at the crude language. Marshal was never one to beat around the bush. "I know what it's like. Sometimes, you're allowed to get revenge. Being the bigger person is only so great until things get real shitty. Then, you're allowed to get them back. You're allowed to hurt them worse than they hurt you. You're allowed to give them just a little taste of what Hell's gonna be like." Rin told her knowingly. 

They went back downstairs to color in the coloring books with Tsukumo and Sachi. 

§~•~§~•~§

Shura was the one scouting the town this time, scavenging old buildings for hidden gems, so to speak. 

And she never even saw the man following her. 

By the time she noticed he was there, it was too late. The crazed man opened fire on everything in sight with his submachine gun. He was from the camp that took Rin and Marshal hostage days ago. Apparently, he'd survived the bullet in his left shoulder and side instead of bleeding out and getting eaten. He'd followed Shura not even knowing it was where Rin and Marshal were. He saw them through a window in the house when he followed Shura there, and in his half-crazed brain, it made sense to open fire on the house and the people around. 

He shot up the place haphazardly and a bullet nailed Konekomeru's left leg. Another bullet clipped Chelsea's hip and she fell with a yelp.

The worst injury was Torako. She'd been hit in the chest, side, and leg. The bullets all missed her heart, but she was older and they just didn't have the supplies or time to save her. By the time Rin came out and threw his ax to split open the man's skull, she'd already lost too much blood.

Tears were already pouring down his face as he fell to his knees next to Ryuji, who was already kneeling in the ground holding his mother. 

"I'm considering it a compliment that it took bullets to take me down." She rasped, smiling triumphantly. "Mom, this is not the right time to be bragging, you're dying." Ryuji choked out, looking down at the woman incredulously. She laughed loudly, then coughed up blood and then laughed more. "Bah, it's the perfect time! I win by default if that asshole is already dead!" She claimed, grinning smugly with bloodied teeth. 

"I don't think I've ever wanted to laugh and cry so much at the same time before now." Kinzou croaked, wiping his eyes. Yukio finally joined them on the front lawn, frowning at the carnage in front of the house that he'd missed when he was milking the cow. He had training as a medical assistant, but there was no saving Torako.

"Take care of yourself and this big happy family you've got, okay? You're already an amazing father and I know you'll make a wonderful grandfather one day. And you can tell all your kids' most embarrassing stories to their kids like I did." Torako smiled proudly up at her son. "I never made anything that I could be more proud of after you were born. Remember that, my sweet Ryuji." She told him. 

She held onto Ryuji's hand tightly, even as she turned her head to Rin, who was already a mess of tears and snot. "Oho, look at you! I'm not dead yet!" She cried, chuckling. She leaned up and Rin leaned down to meet her as she brought her free hand up to hug him. "Thank you." Rin choked out the coarse whisper in her ear. Torako had been the only mother he'd ever had. "A parent's work is never done, Rin. But the best part is always taking in the strays and being the person they want to make proud. You'll understand that one day. For now, I'm giving you my son. Thank you for loving him past his terrible attitude in the beginning." She whispered to him, a conversation only they heard. 

She finally laid back down onto the grass with a sigh and only took in a few more breaths before one was her last and her body went completely lax. Rin sat there and sobbed in a situation that felt so familiar, yet so foreign. He'd cried over Sachi's loss of her parents and Ryuji's loss of nearly all his people over a year ago. Now, they'd come so far and he was in the same position. But this time, he mourned someone he'd known and loved. He mourned his mother.

Ryuji sat there, almost numb and still not crying nearly as much as Rin as he processed that he'd just lost his mother. Her hand was cold in his now and he withdrew his, clenching it tight around the objects in it. Torako had pressed her old engagement ring she'd kept all this time, along with her and Tatsuma's wedding bands.

It hurt Ryuji a lot, but Rin was sobbing loudly because yet another thing was his fault. If he hadn't been out during the storm, the man wouldn't have ever found them at all. He kept apologizing to Ryuji, but Ryuji refused to accept the apologies. "Rin, listen!" He finally demanded. Rin's blubbering quieted. "Sometimes, shitty people find a way to survive even though they shouldn't be allowed to. This is no one's fault." Ryuji told him. 

"Why are you so nice about this?!" Rin demanded angrily. He got up and ran into the house. 

§~•~§~•~§

Later, after Kinzou, Renzou, and Ryuji helped Konekomeru and Chelsea get inside the house to be patched up and wrapped Torako's body in old blankets, they all sat in the Dining and Living Rooms. 

Rin had Sachi and Tsukumo in his lap in the rocking chair in the living room. He was hugging them and just rocking in the chair, not saying anything, a forlorn expression on his face. Ryuji decided to leave him be for the time being and let Izumo hug him where they sat together on the couch. 

She'd never seen Rin look so sad before. His eyes were still red and puffy and his nose was stuffy and a deep frown was on his face. He held Sachi and Tsukumo to him and rocked in a steady, constant rythm. It had taken him a while to come back out of their shared room, where he'd been curled up and sobbing loudly under the blankets on their bed, regardless of how much they irritated his still-healing rope burns.

This had really hit him hard, it seemed. Izumo knew Torako had been like the mom Rin never had and he'd loved her a lot. He wasn't ready to let go of her after only knowing her for around a year and a half. He'd wanted Sachi and Tsukumo to have a grandmother since he never knew his real parents even before the Apocalypse and he'd never had any extended family. He'd taken this harder than even Ryuji had and it was difficult to watch. 

It wasn't long before he finally fell asleep, exhausted from crying all day and halfway through the night. Shiemi and Shura took Sachi and Tsukumo to sleep with them in their room while Ryuji carried Rin to their room with Izumo following. 

Losing people was hard, but they'd carry on with their plan to leave the farm in a few days, after they buried Torako. It was what she'd want. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cried so much during this that I got a headache, so y'all better appreciate how much I cry to bring you quality content. 😩😂 I love Torako and she's Best Mom, so I'm sorry, but it was necessary.


	19. Nineteen: White Lilac

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> White Lilac–Youthful Innocence

After losing Torako, the group moved out. They'd been planning to leave for a couple weeks now. They'd found a fully working truck and looted gas and gathered supplies. They got super lucky that the shooter hadn't hit the truck's gas tank. The situation could've ended up a lot worse. Kinzou could've been, at the least, hurt severely and permanently handicapped. Pieces of the truck could've pierced the house and hurt the kids.

Rin was thankful they hadn't lost everything. They went by the camp of his and Marshal's captors one last time to raid it for supplies before taking off in a convoy of vehicles. Rin led said convoy on a Motorcycle with Ryuji sitting right up against his back, arms wrapped around his boyfriend's middle. Kinzou, Yukio, Izumo, Tsukumo, Sachi, Shiemi, and Shura were all packed into a navy blue minivan behind them, then Marshal driving a Jeep with all the meat and milk they'd gotten from the farm animals, Chelsea on that wild horse that wasn't so wild anymore, and behind them was Shima, Konekomeru, and more supplies in an old Ford Fusion that was an ugly shade of seafoam green. 

Rin was desperately hoping he wouldn't flare up at the wrong time while riding with Ryuji. Over the last week, the flares of heat had gotten frighteningly frequent. They were small, compared to the meltdown back in the field right before the tornado. But they were noticeable enough for Rin to worry. 

Riding a motorcycle with no traffic to slow him down and his boyfriend right there with him was satisfying, though it would've been even better with Izumo riding with them. He suddenly had the image of Izumo crammed in a small sidecar next to them and snickered. "What's funny?" Ryuji asked in his ear. Rin shivered at how much the man was pressed up against him. He could feel the teen's body heat like a sixth sense.

"Just thought of something funny." He responded, going even faster to feel the cool wind against his face.

§~•~§~•~§

They stopped on the side of the road so Rin, Shura, and Shima could hunt for dinner. Rin scored a young buck and found some wild blueberries and dandelions. He could make something out of that. He could carve the antlers into weapons. And he could get Shura to make some kind of clothing from the hide of the deer. Maybe he could get a dress for Sachi out of it? Or a coat for Tsukumo.....

As he pondered what could be made out of the buck's skin, he heard a whistle that didn't blend in with the birds chirping in the trees. He listened for it again and took off in the direction it came from. 

"Rin! Over here! Shima found something!" Shura told him excitedly. She was holding open a hatch. He looked down inside the opening and saw Shima give a huge grin, holding up two big cans of baked beans. Rin stared down at him and the cans in betrayal and disgust and that grin only seemed to grow wider. 

"Are there any more cans?" He asked shortly. Shima cackled like an evil Disney witch and disappeared for a minute before he brought back two cans–tropical fruit mix and peaches. Rin sighed in relief. "How many cans are down there and how big?" He pressed. 

"Uh, lemme see." The boy disappeared back into the bunker and after a few minutes of Rin and Shura playing rock paper scissors to pass the time, he came back to the opening. "There's enough for us to eat healthy portions of every meal for a week and a half here, dude! It's mostly fruit, green beans, creamed corn, and some little rings in red sauce called Spaghetti-O's." He called up. "Woah, shit, did you say Spaghetti-O's?!" Shura jumped up. The boys looked at her weirdly. "You guys don't understand, we gotta give those to the kiddies! I used to love Spaghetti-O's when I visited America as a kid!" She told them seriously. "Ooookay. Guess the kids eat Spaghetti-O's tonight." Rin agreed. 

"Is there enough room in there for us all to fit down there to sleep?" Shura wondered. "There's plenty of room as long as no one minds cuddling." Shima answered. "Nice. Stay there, Shima. We'll he back with the others and then you'll help me and Ryuji camoflage the cars. Then we can eat dinner and sleep." Rin decided.

It took until well after dark for Rin, Shima, and Bon to camoflage the cars and supplies effectively and Chelsea to tie the horse securely to a tree near the bunker without the animal flipping out, but once they did, Shiemi offered them plates of cooked deer meat. Marshal gave them decent portions of corn. Blueberries and dandelion stems were dessert. It was actually a pretty good meal considering they were living in the Zombie Apocalypse and mostly ate animal meat and whatever berries they could find that weren't poisonous. Rin savored the dinner with his family. He knew well to savor things like this when they came along at this point. He wished Torako was sitting across from him and Bon, spoon-feeding Sachi and telling embarrassing stories about either Ryuji, Konekomeru, Shima, or their adventures as stupid little kids together. 

It is what it is. Only look back to learn, not to wish.

When they settled down that night, Rin had Sachi in his arms, Bon's arm acting as his pillow. Izumo had Tsukumo between her and Bon. Everyone else cuddled up in their own little piles–with the exception of Chelsea and Marshal standing guard above in the trees around the bunker–and Rin smiled at the calm sight before closing his eyes and letting himself drift away.

§~•~§~•~§

"You didn't eat much. You never skip on meals." Chelsea noticed as she and her twin stood guard in the trees. Marshal frowned. "I can't keep much down these days." She admitted, looking out across the forest floor.

"Is there a specific reason for that that you know of?" Chelsea wondered quietly. 

"Chel, I love you, but please don't ask me, I will puke." Marshal pleaded, a rare whine on her voice as she did so. She dropped into a crouch, sat down on her branch, and hugged her knees to herself, rocking slightly, but not enough to fall off her branch. 

Chelsea could tell her sister was internally panicking. She usually curled up like that when she was trying to convince herself everything was fine and nothing bad was happening. Marshal was never one for denial. She went straight for acceptance. But she would try to make things feel like they were okay instead of just accepting that things were happening and Chelsea wished she wouldn't. 

She knew Marshal knew what she was doing. Marshal was good at Psychoanalysis. She'd been majoring is psychology to be a Psychologist one day, maybe become a Therapist. The Therapist path was a very slim chance only because Marshal's patience for people who ran away from their problems even when an expert told them they had said problems to their faces was very low. Marshal was more likely to just slap the person rather than waste any more time trying to help them after a couple months of sessions with no progress being made.

"I'm sorry Mar. I won't push it. But I'm always here. And so is everyone else. You don't have to bottle everything up like you used to. There's literally no point in judging people in this world, we all wear nasty clothes that smell like sweat and dirt and let our hair turn into greasy messes." Chelsea tried to do what Marshal usually did for everyone else–cheering them up with humor.

Her twin finally cracked a smile and sighed, looking up at the sky where stars glimmered. "I know, Chel. I just wish I at least got a pretty wedding, someone who loved me, and some fun out of this bullshit. I'm already over it, of course. Always am. No point in being angry over it when I can't do anything. Still hurts though. Feels like good things come and then at least three bad things right after to hurt me for being happy." Her eyes were glassy as she peered up at the three stars that made up Orion's belt. It was her favorite constellation and gave her comfort. Not because she related to Orion or anything like that, but because it was stye only constellation she could ever find in the sky when they were little.

She couldn't even find either of the dippers, but she could always find those three stars of Orion's belt and then the rest of the constellation. That fact had always made Chelsea laugh. Marshal was simple to understand if you stuck around long enough. She was a picky eater, but what she liked were very simple and easy ad cheap, back when money mattered. Things she liked were simple things. Her understanding of things was on point and she would do her best to simplify it so she could explain it to others without all the uneccesary and complicated words she'd picked up from reading big books in most of her freetime as a preteen and teenager.

Chelsea loved the way her sister was different from her. It made them fit together well. It made them get along well, too. They liked different things and had different styles and beliefs. Marshal was very passive when it came to politics while Chelsea was very invested in them. Chelsea was loud, but softer than Marshal. Marshal got anxious when people yelled unless the situation called for it, but she was also tougher than Chelsea when push came to shove. That difference was because where Chelsea chose to feel everything even if it hurt her, Marshal had a defense mechanism of getting emotionally detached from things if they stressed her out too much. That was due to the fact that she valued feelings and felt them too strongly when they were younger, which resulted in her always getting hurt by people. 

The two were very different, but Chelsea was fine with that. So, when her way of doing things didn't work, she could try Marshal's way, and vice versa. She would crack all the dumb jokes and terrible pick up lines she needed to if it made her twin feel better instead of hugging her like she desperately wanted to. Chelsea liked comforting people physically, but Marshal was a touch-me-not and didn't like being touched unless she initiated it most of the time. 

Chelsea looked up at the sky and found those three stars. "I can't believe you still can't find the Big Dipper without help." She said quietly. Marshal let out a sudden bark of laughter at the comment after such a long and thoughtful pause. Out of the corner of her eye, Chelsea saw her wipe at her eyes. "It's not my fault! The pattern was too complicated for me to see as a kid!" Marshal protested. They joked around the rest of the night, telling each other the hilariously terrible pickup lines they remembered finding on the internet in that one Math class in Sophomore year when their teacher let them have freetime on the computers after classwork was done. 

They stayed awake the whole night watching for corpses, staying quiet to hear them shuffle and groan, or to hear their rotting bones clack together. Waiting for the smell of rotting flesh to waft towards them. 

It never came, and they slept half the next day, dreaming of a time when things felt simpler, but were really much more complicated than they'd seemed to two little girls in a small house in New Jersey with a Mommy and a Daddy that were still together.


End file.
